MIAMI – Eugenio Suárez flung his head back and looked up into the rafters. The sound bouncing off loanDepot park’s steel roof washed over the Venezuelan designated hitter as he held out his arms and motioned for more.
Suárez’s RBI double in the top of the ninth gave Venezuela the go-ahead run in an electric 3-2 triumph over the titanic Team USA in the World Baseball Classic championship game Tuesday night.
It was an emphatic exclamation mark on Venezuela’s first title in this tournament, a fitting representation of what this nation means to baseball and vice versa.
We are family here, Suárez said on the FOX broadcast during the on-field celebration. That’s why we play with passion, with love. Because we feel that jersey, we feel our country in front of us.
That’s why this is a lot for us as players, as people, as human beings and as Venezuelans. Now, we are the champions.
On a night in which every out was ecstasy and every run an eruption, Eduardo Rodriguez tamed one of the greatest lineups ever assembled, while the Venezuela players brought the energy
Wilyer Abreu’s huge fifth-inning blast brought the power, Suárez’s clutch double brought the final edge, and the strong Venezuelan contingent within a boisterous crowd of 36,490 brought the volume.
The fans proudly waving their yellow, blue and red flags had plenty to celebrate, plenty of reason to dance in the aisles.
Though the game was perpetually close, Venezuela was in control most of the night, save for when Bryce Harper shook Team USA out of its flat funk at the plate with a mammoth, game-tying two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth.
Ultimately, though, that late comeback by the Americans only further fueled the emotion of the moment for Venezuela, which quickly put together that ninth-inning run against reliever Garrett Whitlock with Luis Arraez’s leadoff walk, pinch-runner Javier Sanoja’s stolen base and Suárez’s line drive that found grass deep in left-center field.
That clutch knock from Suárez wrestled back control for a Venezuela team that had it early and often.
Venezuela came into this final with the distinct disadvantage of playing on back-to-back nights, especially after needing 23 outs from the bullpen to get past Italy in the semifinals.
And though Rodriguez has had great successes in the big leagues, his more recent track record – including not only an ERA north of 5 over the last two seasons with the Diamondbacks but a struggle of a start against the Dominican Republic earlier in this tournament – made for an iffy match-up.
But the loudest cheers were saved for the ninth, when Suárez came through at the plate and when Venezuela closer Daniel Palencia finished off Team USA on the mound.
Nobody believed in Venezuela, Suárez said. But now we win the championship. It’s a celebration for all the Venezuelan country.
MLB.com / ABC Flash-Point SMI Sports News 2026.
In this match Venezuela won convincingly?