Puerto Rico secured a spot in the quarters finals against Mexico
Puerto Rico manages to beat the Dominican Republic in what has been one of the best matches we’ve had in the World Baseball Classic 2023 so far.
The game had commenced before the first ball was thrown. Both fans got the ambiance in the loanDepot park to other levels. They were all chanting, jumping, and drumming all the way from the entrance to their seats. 36,025 fans attended the match that was set to decide who goes home and who keeps on playing.
The victory went to Puerto Rico who won the game 5-2. This secured them a spot in the quarter-finals where they are going to be facing Mexico. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic, one of the favorites to lift the trophy, has been sent back home to wait until the next time.
Game Highlights
Johnny Cueto was the designated pitcher to open the game for the Dominican Republic. He managed to completely control the first inning only needing to throw nine pitches. However, in the third inning, Puerto Rico got things rolling with a solo home run from Christian Vázquez. He was quickly followed by Fransisco Lindor and Kiké Hernández who made an RBI single each. Then, with the help of MJ Melendez’s groundout, they managed to score.
The Dominicans didn’t wait to respond and in the same inning, Juan Soto made a solo home run. However, the inning ended with only this run being made by them.
Puerto Rico didn’t take the foot off the pedal and in the fifth inning, thanks to an error from Julio Rodríguez, what was supposed to be a routine one-out single became a running home run. As a result, the game was 5-1 with the Puerto Ricans already chanting victory.
The Dominicans tried to respond back in that same inning and were on the brim of doing so. They managed to have a player in each base and Manny Machado at-bat, but this only resulted in one more run and a double play. The inning ended after a catch that made the third out.
What team were you supporting during this game, Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic? Tell us what you felt during the match in the comment section!
