WBC Daily: Venezuela Ends Italy's Espresso Run To Set Up Final vs. USA
Recapping the quarterfinals action on Friday at the World Baseball Classic.
Entity Intersection Graph
No entity connections available yet for this article.
Original Source
- No Data Available - BROWSE BY SPORTS & TEAMS PLAYERS SHOWS PERSONALITIES TOPICS Built on World Baseball Classic World Baseball Classic WBC Daily: Venezuela Ends Italy's Espresso Run To Set Up Final vs. USA Updated Mar. 16, 2026 11:29 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link We're set for a World Baseball Classic final for the ages. USA vs. Venezuela . Two of the tournament favorites will play for it all on Tuesday in Miami. But before we get to that, let's recap Monday's semifinal action at the World Baseball Classic. Venezuela Into First Ever WBC Final In the end, the espresso machine just couldn't generate enough juice. Italy's surprise run at the WBC came to an end as Venezuela took care of business against the Italians in front of a raucous crowd in Miami. It's now the first ever WBC championship game appearance for the Venezuelans. Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a seventh-inning rally to propel Venezuela to the victory. Venezuela overcame a 2-0, fourth-inning deficit after rebounding from a three-run hole to beat defending champion Japan in a quarterfinal and reached the final for the first time after losing to South Korea in its only previous semifinal appearance in 2009. Italy, the first European nation to reach a WBC semifinal, had been 5-0 in the tournament and sparked attention with an espresso-sipping ritual after home runs and victory celebrations featuring Italian wine. Italy went ahead in the second when Keider Montero forced in a run with three straight walks, the last to J.J. D’Orazio. Dante Nori hit into a run-scoring forceout against Ricardo Sanchez , the first of six relievers who combined to finish a five-hitter. Eugenio Suárez's fourth-inning homer off Aaron Nola started the comeback, and winner Angel Zerpa escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when he threw a sinker on the outside corner past Sam Antonacci . Gleyber Torres walked leading off the seventh against loser Michael Lorenzen , and Ja...
Read full article at source