Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dominican Republic rallies late at WBC.
Machado leads comeback win with home run
1C
MIAMI — The melodic wave of sound began to swirl with a brisk wind off the Atlantic inside Marlins Park two hours before the first pitch.
By the time Team USA and the Dominican Republic got down to their highly anticipated showdown Saturday in the World Baseball Classic everyone had a skip in their step and it was clear that nationalistic baseball fervor was a resounding hit in Little Havana.
The hit that would resonate loudest was a mammoth home run by Hialeah native Manny Machado that sparked a Dominican Republic comeback from a five-run deficit for a 7-5 victory.
Machado’s long blast to left off Tanner Roark in the sixth inning awakened D.R. bats and got the Dominican-dominated crowd churned into a comeback frenzy.
They completed it when Nelson Cruz bent a three-run home run around the left-field foul pole in the eighth inning off Andrew Miller. Starling Marte, whose earlier error gifted two runs to the U.S., added an opposite-field homer two batters later.
Miller, who entered the game with a two-run lead, was unable to summon the mastery that made him a postseason magician for Cleveland last October.
U.S. starter Marcus Stroman,
a right-hander who pitches for the Blue Jays, had been kept the powerful D.R. lineup in check for 4 2⁄3 innings, allowing only three singles.
Marlins outfielders Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton each contributed RBI doubles as the U.S. built a 5-0 lead in the early innings.
As much pressure as both teams were under to win, the outcome wasn’t decisive. Both can advance to the next round with wins Sunday in their final firstround games.
The big winner was baseball in South Florida, a statement that has been difficult to make in well over a decade.
The crowd of 37,446 was a record for baseball in Marlins Park — the Marlins drew 37,116 for Opening Day in 2014 against the Rockies.
The atmosphere was electric, with fans dancing at their seats, flags waving and horns hooting. It was festive. It had a Latin beat.
It was the vibe envisioned for baseball when the predominantly publicly funded ballpark was built but largely unfulfilled during the first five seasons of the Marlins.
It showed what baseball could become in Little Havana with a sellout crowd stacked to the top of the upper deck and an emotionally charged game on the field. They crowd even got The Wave going round and round from field to rafters.
There was no doubt the D.R. had the dominant voice in the ballpark.
They screamed with delight when Machado singled to center for the first D.R. hit in the first inning. They chanted “MVP” when Robinson Cano came to the plate.
“I know that I was born here, but my heart and my blood will be always Dominican,” Machado said this week. “So to keep both of them together, to start for the first time, to wear this uniform, it is very special for me.”
Machado made it special in creating a lifetime memory with his homer in front of numerous family and friends.
Team USA had solid support and the best answer for modulating the volume of the Dominican din by grabbing an early lead with two runs in the third. They were both unearned due to an error on center fielder Marte, who bumped Nelson Cruz waiting to catch Adam Jones’ drive to right-center.
That allowed Ian Kinsler to score, and Jones came home when Yelich followed with a double.
Volquez, a candidate to start on Opening Day for the Marlins, was chased after Brandon Crawford’s RBI single made it 3-0 with two outs in the fourth. The veteran right-hander gave up six hits in 3 innings while throwing 52 pitches (30 strikes).