How Venezuela Rallied vs. Italy to Reach World Baseball Classic Final vs. Team USA

Venezuela defeated Italy to reach the championship game of the World Baseball Classic | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Italy fought valiantly against Venezuela at loanDepot Park in Miami on Monday night, but in the end, their miracle run came to a close. As for Venezuela, they made national team history by reaching the World Baseball Classic final for the first time.

A date against Team USA awaits Venezuela in the very same building on Tuesday night. For a while on Monday, it looked as if Italy would be the ones taking on the U.S. in a rematch, but the Italians failed to get some much-needed insurance runs and ultimately couldn’t finish the job.

Italy was ahead for most of the game against Venezuela, taking an early lead into the seventh inning before things unraveled. Venezuela, who had just won in thrilling comeback fashion in the quarterfinals against Japan, wasn’t fazed. Eugenio Suarez homered in the fourth inning to get his team on the board, and a few innings later, his teammates followed suit with an offensive outburst of their own. 

The seventh inning was when this game flipped completely. Venezuela chased Michael Lorenzen from the game after scoring three runs on three straight hits. They trailed 2–1 entering the inning, but ended up with a 4–2 lead courtesy of consecutive RBI singles from Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez. That barrage of base hits was enough to secure the win for Venezuela, as they held on to win by that 4–2 scoreline. 

Italy’s small ball approach served them well early on, but they couldn’t get the bats going when they needed them the most. The team left the bases loaded without scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Sam Antonacci struck out looking on a pitch on the corner from Angel Zerpa. After that moment, Italy didn’t have a single baserunner the rest of the game.

Venezuela’s bullpen delivered an absolute gem after Keider Montero was chased just 1 1/3 innings into his start. The bullpen didn’t surrender a single earned run, keeping things close until the team’s offensive outburst in the seventh. The trio of Eduard Bazardo, Andres Machado and Daniel Palencia didn’t give up a hit across the final three frames, emphatically shutting the door on Italy.

Next up for Venezuela: the World Baseball Classic final and a high-stakes matchup against Team USA. You can recap the full semi-final win with our coverage below.

Italy vs. Venezuela live updates: Here’s what is happening in World Baseball Classic semifinals

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