The Dominican Republic defeats Puerto Rico 3-0 as the DR wins the World Baseball Classic. The Dominicans dominated, going undefeated in all three rounds. In the championship round, they allowed just seven hits in 18 innings.

Congratulations to the DR on their first World Baseball Classic Title!

Edwin Encarnacion make the Puerto Rican team pay for walking Robinson Cano intentionally. He doubles in two runs in the bottom of the first to give the Dominican Republic an early 2-0 lead. Given the depth of the DR bullpen, that could prove to be a very big lead.

Samuel Deduno strikes out both Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina with a man on second in the top of the first. Deduno stranded Angel Pagan after he led off the final of the World Baseball Classic with a single. The Twins prospect looks like he has nasty stuff tonight.

The Dominican Republic will play Puerto Rico Tuesday night for the World Baseball Classic Championship. The Netherlands falls 4-1 to the DR Monday night, ending the dream of an all Cinderella final. The DR tries to become the first WBC to win the tournament undefeated.

Puerto Rico lost to the DR twice. The Puerto Ricans can win despite losing to this team twice. It should be a great game.

Back to back doubles by the Dominicans in the bottom of the fifth tie the Netherlands at one. Carlos Santana and Moises Sierra both went down the leftfield line for the two-baggers.

Update: Jose Reyes singles with two outs, and the Dominican Republic leads the Netherlands 2-1.

Update: Reyes comes around on a wild pitch and the Dominicans lead 3-1.

Update: The DR scores four runs in the inning. They have a 4-1 lead and a great bullpen to protect the potential win.

Edinson Volquez held the Netherlands hitless through three innings, but his two walks in the first inning led to a run, and the Dutch lead the Dominicans 1-0 at the end of three. Diego Markwell spread out two hits and a walk as he kept the DR off the scoreboard. Go Dutch!

Update: Andruw Jones grounds a single with two out in the fourth to break up the no-hitter.

The Puerto Rican WBC team finished off Japan, winning 3-1 Sunday night. Puerto Rico will take on the winner of the Netherlands vs. the Dominican Republic, played Monday night. Japan fails to win their third straight WBC.

If the Dutch can beat the powerhouse DR, undefeated in the tournament so far, it will be a battle of the underdogs on Tuesday for the title.

Alex Rios hits a two-run homer for Puerto Rico in the top of the seventh inning, and Puerto Rico extends their lead to 3-0 over Japan. These are the first runs scored since the top of the first. The Puerto Ricans are getting great pitching, as they held Japan to three hits so far.

Puerto Rico leads Japan 1-0 after three innings in the first semi-final game of the World Baseball Classic. Mario Santiago retired all nine Japanese batters he faced, striking out two. Puerto Rico scored in the first after two batters reached via the walk, then came around to score on a Mike Aviles two-out single. Japan has flashed the leather, getting the lead runner on a bunt and turning two double plays.

Nelson Figueroa, a 38-year-old journey man pitcher with a 4.55 career ERA, shuts out team USA for six innings as Puerto Rico advances to the final four of the WBC by a score of 4-3. Figueroa did not over power the US, as he pitched to contact with one walk and two strikeouts. The US put 15 balls in play against Nelson, but only two found holes.

US pitchers managed just two K the whole game, walking four. The US looks bad at it’s own game once again.

Congratulations to Puerto Rico. They join Japan, the Netherlands, and the Dominican Republic in the single elimination finals.

Go Dutch!

Errors lead to a Puerto Rican run in the sixth, then they score two more in the eighth to tie Italy at three. The Italian fielders and bullpen are showing the weakness of the team late in the game, as Puerto Rico is still batting in the eighth.

Update: A bad throw on a ground ball brings around another runner, and the Puerto Ricans take a 4-3 lead. Alexis Rios scores all the way from second on that ground ball in the shortstop hole.

Update: Puerto Rico holds on to the 4-3 lead, retiring the Italians in the ninth for the victory. They will play the loser of the Dominican Republic vs. the US. Italy should be proud for playing too good Caribbean teams very well.

Italy plays Puerto Rico tonight (Wednesday) in the World Baseball Classic, the loser falling out of the tournament. The Italians are the Cinderella of the remaining teams, having advanced past Mexico and Canada in the first round, and holding their own against the Dominican Republic in the first game of the current round. I can see them beating Puerto Rico tonight, but as Italy showed in the first round, they lack pitching depth. The US hammered them in the third game in that pool. Even if Italy wins tonight, they face a tough contest against either the DR or the US.

The US bats came to life late in the first round, and that carried over to the second round Tuesday night. I liked David Wright‘s interview after the game. When asked about his five RBI, he gave credit to the batters who got on base in front of him. Nice to see David understands that RBI are often a function of the people hitting in front of you.

The Dominican Republic came back to defeat the Italians 5-4 in the first game of the second round in the Western Hemisphere pool. Italy should be very happy they played the DR so close, but sad they blew an early 4-0 lead. Italy will player the loser of the US vs. Puerto Rico tomorrow. If Italy loses, they will be out of the tournament.

Both Cuba and the Netherlands threatened in the seventh, but the game remains tied at four in the top of the eighth. Even if the Dutch lose this game, they’ve shown in this tournament that they can hang with the best.

Given the excellent showings by the Netherlands and Italy, I hope a European city gets to host a round of the WBC in 2017.

Update: Cuba gets the first two batters on in the eighth.

Update: With men on 1st and 3rd and one out, Yasmany Tomas singles in a run, and Cuba leads 5-4.

Update: A sacrifice fly makes in 6-4, and the Dutch are in big trouble.

Update: The Dutch get out of the inning trailing by two runs. Do they have one more comeback in them?

Cuba and the Netherlands are underway in Japan, the winner advancing to San Francisco for the final round, the loser falling out of the WBC. The Dutch scored two runs in the bottom of the third, but Cuba came back with two in the top of the fourth, and the game is tied right there going to the bottom of the fourth. Jose Abreu hit a long home run to dead centerfield to tie the game. It could have been worse, but the Netherlands turned a nifty 3-6-1 double play on the previous batter.

Craig Kimbrel comes in and strikes out two of three batters in the bottom of the ninth, and the United States goes down to the wire to advance to the second round, beating Canada 9-4. The game was close until the top of the ninth, with Canada leading most of the game, the US scoring seven runs in the last two innings for the blowout.

Bullpen depth is playing a huge role in this tournament. If offenses can get into the back of the pens, they can take advantage of those pitchers.

The next big game is the Netherlands and Cuba early Monday morning EDT.

Round two will feature Italy, the US, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

Canada scored a run as they bat in the bottom of the eighth, and has the bases loaded for Tim Smith with two out. They trail the US 5-4.

Update: Smith grounds out to end the inning, and the US holds on to a one-run lead. Joey Votto will bat in the ninth, however.

Japan beats the Netherlands 16-4 in seven innings to advance to the final four of the WBC. It looked like the Dutch would lose 12-0, but they scored four runs in the sixth to temporarily suspend the mercy rule. Japan matched that in the top of the seventh with a grand slam from Hayato Sakamoto, the sixth home run of the game by the Samurai. Kenta Maeda pitched his second great game in the tournament.

The Dutch are not out, however, as they have one win, and face Cuba for the second time tomorrow, the winner taking the second slot in San Francisco.

The US beat Italy late Saturday night 6-2, David Wright hitting a grand slam in that game. The United States plays Canada this afternoon, the winner going on to the second round with Italy, the loser going home. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have locked up spots in Pool C, and play each other today for seeding.

In the top of the ninth inning, a major fight breaks out between Canada and Mexico. With the Canadians leading 9-3 and batting, Chris Robinson bunted for a hit to lead off the ninth. With run differential a huge part of the tie-breaking, teams need to score as many runs as possible. Arnold Leon might have taken exception, and threw at Rene Tosoni. He was warned, and on the next pitch drilled Tosoni. Both benches cleared and this was a real fight, with plenty of hay-makers thrown.

The fans got into it, some throwing things on the field. They’ve been warned as well. The umps are trying to sort the ejections out now.

I guess the players do take this tournament seriously.

Update: There is speculation that the Mexicans wanted to go after Chris Robinson due to a couple of hard slides early in the game, but he bunted before they could get to him.

If a player is suspended, he can’t be re-instated for the tournament.

The Cubans rebounded from the loss to the Netherlands, with a mercy rule win over Taiwan. The Cubans hit four home runs, scoring eight runs in the sixth inning to win 14-0 in seven innings, as the WBC mercy rule was invoked. With two losses in the round, Taipei is out of the WBC. Cuba will play the loser of the game between Japan and the Netherlands. The winner of that game moves on to San Francisco.

Meanwhile, the US has their backs to the wall as they lost to Mexico 5-2 Friday night. A loss to the surprising Italians tonight and the US will need some help to advance to round two.

Italy wins by the mercy rule, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to end the game 14-4 over Canada. Wow. Jim Kaat noted the Canadian team is a lot bigger than the Italians, but that didn’t seem to matter. The Italians collected 17 hits to Canada’s seven, and showed selectivity at the plate, drawing seven walks to Canada’s four. Italy is now in the driver’s seat in pool D, with a 2-0 record.

Spain just started their game against Puerto Rico. We’ll see if they continue the European surprises. This is exactly the kind of thing that will help make the game popular in other parts of the world.