US eliminates Dominicans to reach WBC last-four
To meet Japan next; Puerto Rico takes on The Netherlands in the other semis
Dominican Republic’s Manny Machado reached on an error by Brandon Crawford with one out in the first inning and scored on a Robinson Cano double off Danny Duffy. Carlos Santana singled in Cano.
The Americans made their move a short time later as Stanton and Jonathan Lucroy singled to open the third inning. Stanton scored on Ian Kinsler’s forceout at second. Christian Yelich’s two-out double tied the game 2-2.
Crawford singled with two outs in the fourth inning before Stanton hammered a pitch into the second balcony down the left-field line for a 4-2 lead.
Sam Dyson got five outs, and Luke Gregerson pitched the ninth for a save.
The Dominican Republic left runners on first and second with one out in the first inning and runners on second and third with no outs in both the second and fifth innings.
In the early game, Kennys Vargas smacked a two-run home run as undefeated Puerto Rico, already assured a semifinal berth, routed Venezuela 13-2.
Puerto Rico’s Francisco Lindor, who sat out the contest in advance of Monday’s matchup, declined to declare his squad the team to beat.
“We haven’t beaten everybody yet so I don’t want to say we’re the best team in the world,” Lindor said. “We haven’t won anything yet. We’re a confident team and we’re playing really well.”
Venezuela pulled within 5-2 in the sixth inning when Rougned Odor smashed a two-run homer over the centerfield wall.
But Puerto Rico broke open the con- test with five runs in the seventh, Mike Aviles smacking a two-run single and scoring on Rene Rivera’s double. Angel Pagan added a run-scoring single and Carlos Correa drove in a run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
An error by Venezuelan third baseman Jose Altuve in the eighth allowed another run to score and Puerto Rico completed its scoring on Vargas’ ninthinning blast.