Team USA defeats Team Dominican Republic to clinch spot in World Baseball Classic final

The attention of the baseball world was on Sunday night’s Team USA-Team Dominican Republic game. Although it wasn’t the World Baseball Classic championship game, it sure felt that way. In what was a competitive matchup throughout, Team USA emerged victorious, winning by a final score of 2-1.

Team USA has endured ups and downs throughout the 2026 WBC, but they are set to play for the championship nonetheless.

How Team USA earned win over Team Dominican Republic

The game started out as a pitcher’s duel between Paul Skenes and Luis Severino. However, there was still some early offense.

Junior Caminero hit an early home run to give the Dominican Republic a 1-0 lead. Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony later answered with solo homers of their own to put the USA on top 2-1.

Despite the home runs, pitching and defense told the story of the game. Bobby Witt Jr. and Julio Rodriguez were among the players who made impressive defensive plays on Sunday night.

Skenes ended up working into the 5th inning, finishing with a final line of 4.1 innings pitched, two strikeouts and one earned run. Severino went 3.1 innings of one-run baseball while recording six strikeouts. Both bullpens performed well following Skenes and Severino’s departures from the contest.

Mason Miller ultimately came in to shut the door in the 9th inning, clinching the victory with the save.

The WBC is not over for Team USA. There is still work to be done as they prepare to play either Team Venezuela or Team Italy in the championship. Italy and Venezuela are set to play in their semifinal game on Monday night at 8 PM EST. The championship game is scheduled for 8 PM EST on Tuesday night.

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