D-backs' Eduardo Rodriguez Leads Venezuela to Historic WBC Win

For the second straight World Baseball Classic, an Arizona Diamondbacks starter stood on the mound with everything on the line. This time, it was left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, tasked with putting Team Venezuela in position to overcome the Team USA juggernaut.

Rodriguez, pitching in the most high-stakes game to date while representing the Diamondbacks, did just that. Still limited by spring pitch counts, the left-hander fired 4.1 innings' worth of dominant scoreless baseball.

He landed 32 of his 57 pitches for strikes. He picked up nine whiffs on 24 swings. He averaged 92.6 MPH on his four-seam fastball, but split his usage evenly between his four-seam and his cutter.

"It's just special, to go play for my country," Rodriguez said about joining the World Baseball Classic after his first (and only) Cactus League start this spring. "It's just something that I dreamed of when I was a kid."

The dream became reality. Team Venezuela engineered a historic 3-2 victory over Team USA, in large part due to Rodriguez's efforts — as well as a clutch RBI double from former Diamondback Eugenio Suárez in the ninth inning. The win was Venezuela's first-ever finals victory in the WBC, and Arizona's fingerprints were all over it.

"It means everything," Rodriguez said to FOX's Ken Rosenthal postgame. "Everything that we went through to get here, to get to this moment, and we win it all. ... we are champions, so we gotta enjoy this now."

Diamondbacks' Eduardo Rodriguez Leads Venezuela to WBC Title

Mar 11, 2026; Miami, FL, United States; Venezuela pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (52) reacts against the Dominican Republic during the second inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Rodriguez gave up just one base hit on the night and one walk. He also struck out Team USA star Aaron Judge twice in back-to-back at-bats. Rodriguez was pulled with one out and nobody on in the fifth inning, as right-hander Eduard Bazardo finished the frame cleanly.

"I just followed [catcher Salvador Perez]. I [didn't] even shake him the whole game. I was just following him through the all pitches that I was throwing. ... We just followed the plan and executed it, and we win it all. We couldn't do better than that," Rodriguez said to Rosenthal.

If this is the version of Rodriguez coming in 2026, the Diamondbacks will welcome the improvement. Rodriguez struggled to another ERA north of 5.00 in 2025 after missing a large portion of 2024 with a shoulder injury.

Rodriguez came into D-backs camp lighter, down nearly 25 pounds from where he began the 2025 season. He's also been tweaking his arsenal to include a more vertically-breaking curveball, and has seen a bit of an uptick in his fastball velocity.

"I started using more [curveballs] during the [2025] season, like August to the last games of the season. ... This year we're working on getting more like a true curveball rather than... a sweeper or slider and that's what we were really working on today," Rodriguez said after his lone spring training appearance.

With the World Baseball Classic now over, the Diamondbacks will have their full roster available for the first time since the tournament began. Rodriguez will return on the heels of Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte and Carlos Santana, who all represented Team Dominican Republic prior to Team D.R.'s controversial loss in the semifinals.