Sunday’s World Baseball Classic semi-final delivered exactly the kind of baseball fans had been waiting for. The United States edged past the Dominican Republic 2-1, booking their spot in Tuesday’s title game with a performance that mixed star power, breathtaking defense, and a deeply controversial final out.
A pitching duel worthy of the biggest stage
Paul Skenes, the NL Cy Young Award winner, took the mound for Team USA and immediately imposed his authority. The right-hander worked 4.1 innings, surrendering just one run on six hits. His command was sharp throughout, though the Dominican lineup — arguably the most talent-dense in WBC history — refused to go quietly.
The only blemish on Skenes’ outing came in the second inning. Junior Caminero launched a solo home run off him, giving the Dominican Republic their record-breaking 15th homer of the tournament. That surpassed the previous mark set by Mexico back in 2009. Caminero finished the entire WBC hitting .350, cementing himself as one of the tournament’s standout performers.
It’s worth noting that one inning later, Julio Rodríguez took a 98 mph fastball from Skenes directly to the wrist. The Mariners outfielder shook it off and came back to make perhaps the play of the tournament just one frame later. The US bullpen then locked things down completely, keeping the Dominican offense scoreless from the fifth inning onward.
Here is a quick look at how Skenes performed across his two WBC starts :
| Start | IP | H | R | ER | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WBC Game 1 | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Win |
| WBC Semi-final | 4.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Win |
Henderson and Anthony deliver the decisive blows
The American offense built its winning margin through two pivotal home runs. Gunnar Henderson, inserted at third base ahead of Alex Bregman, connected off Luis Severino in the fourth inning to level the score at one. The Baltimore shortstop-turned-third baseman timed Severino’s delivery perfectly, sending the ball into the seats and immediately changing the energy inside the ballpark.
Roman Anthony then provided the margin that would ultimately decide the game. The young outfielder turned on a 3-2 sinker from Gregory Soto, driving it out for the go-ahead run. Soto was handed the loss following that delivery. Anthony’s homer demonstrated precisely why he is considered one of the brightest rising talents in American baseball.
The defensive highlights were equally memorable. Consider the sequence of extraordinary plays that shaped the game’s outcome :
- Aaron Judge unleashed a 95.7 mph throw from right field in the third inning, cutting down Fernando Tatis Jr. attempting to advance to third base.
- Julio Rodríguez scaled the center-field wall in the fifth inning to rob Judge of what would have been a home run, turning the momentum back toward the Dominican Republic.
- Mason Miller closed out the ninth inning to record his second save of the tournament, though not without controversy.
These plays illustrated just how complete both rosters were. Neither team was simply hitting its way through the bracket — the glove work throughout this semi-final matched anything seen in Major League Baseball’s regular season.
The blown call that will define this classic semi-final
With two outs in the ninth and Julio Rodríguez standing on third base, Mason Miller faced Geraldo Perdomo on a full count. The pitch that ended the game was visibly low — several inches beneath the strike zone by any reasonable measure. Home plate umpire called it strike three, and the game was over.
The controversy was immediate and significant. Automatic Ball-Strike technology, known as ABS, is used widely in various professional leagues but remains absent from the World Baseball Classic. Without ABS in place, the Dominican Republic had no mechanism to challenge the call. The irony was not lost on observers : the Dominican side had themselves benefited from missed calls earlier in the tournament.
This finish reignited the debate around officiating standards at international baseball competitions. Many analysts and fans believe that a tournament of this magnitude — featuring the world’s elite players — deserves the most accurate officiating tools available. The question of whether ABS should be mandatory for future WBC editions will almost certainly dominate discussions ahead of the next tournament.
For the Dominican Republic, the defeat was particularly painful. Their roster included six players who finished inside the top ten in MVP voting during the previous MLB season. They reached the semi-finals for the first time since winning the WBC championship back in 2013, and a title run felt genuinely within reach throughout the week.
Team USA, meanwhile, moves into their third consecutive WBC title game. They won the championship in 2017, then fell to Japan — and Shohei Ohtani’s iconic strikeout of Mike Trout — in the 2023 final. With a loaded roster anchored by Skenes, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, and a dominant bullpen, the Americans will face either Italy or Venezuela on Tuesday. A second WBC crown is now just one win away.