MIAMI (AP) — Team USA's celebration after beating the Dominican Republic on Sunday night in the World Baseball Classic semifinals was electric and brief.
NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes roared “Let's go!” after the final out. Closer Mason Miller let out a yell and pointed toward the sky. Players and coaches embraced on the field.
Moments later, the smiles were gone and the message was clear: They've got more work to do.
“Got the job done. That’s it," Miller said. “That’s all we’re here to do is do our job.”
The loaded U.S. team — led by Skenes and featuring stars Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge — outdueled the Dominican Republic 2-1 to reach its third straight WBC title game. The Americans won in 2017 and fell to Shohei Ohtani and Japan in 2023. They will face the winner the second semifinal Monday night between Italy and Venezuela in the title game Tuesday night.
Even though the Americans were favored to get back to the final, the run hasn't been quite as dominant as expected.
A shocking loss to Italy in pool play left the Americans needing help to advance to the quarterfinals, where they beat Canada, but manager Mark DeRosa still believes his lineup has another gear to reach.
“I’m still waiting for our offense to explode," he said. "But it’s tough to explode against a pitching staff like that”
The U.S. didn't need an offensive outburst to beat a talented Dominican squad.
Junior Caminero gave the Dominicans a 1-0 lead in the second with the country's tournament-record 15th home run, driving Skenes' 1-2 sweeper 401 feet to left.
Gunnar Henderson, starting at third base over Alex Bregman, answered in the fourth with a tying solo shot off Luis Severino. Roman Anthony followed later with the go-ahead homer against loser Gregory Soto.