Dominicans blank Puerto Rico for maiden Classic
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 21, 2013
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Dominican Republic celebrate winning the World Baseball Classic title. |
Edwin Encarnacion belted a two-run double in the first and Samuel Deduno pitched five shutout innings as the Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico 3-0 in San Francisco to claim its first World Baseball Classic title.
It was the eighth-straight victory for the star-studded Dominicans as they easily won the all-Caribbean clash, becoming the first team to go undefeated in the brief history of the WBC.
"I can't describe the feeling," said shortstop Jose Reyes. "We did it for the whole country."
Erick Aybar batted two-for-three with an RBI double in the fifth inning for the Dominicans, who were also the heavy favorites to win the last WBC event in 2009 but failed to get past the first round, being beaten by the Netherlands.
Reliever Fernando Rodney, who turned 36 on Monday, got the final out, getting Puerto Rico batter Luis Figueroa to swing at a 100 kilometers per hour changeup for the strikeout. Rodney has now saved seven of the Dominicans' eight wins.
The Dominicans then stormed the mound where they piled on Rodney and jumped for joy while fireworks lit the sky and confetti showered the field.
The game in was played under soggy Bay Area conditions as a steady rain began to fall in the fourth inning and continued throughout. But it didn't dampen the festive atmosphere of the crowd of 35,703 at AT&T Park, who blew whistles, banged drums and screamed in support of their Latin heroes.
The start of the post-final news conference was delayed for several minutes while Reyes and Robinson Cano, who was named MVP of the event, took a call from Dominican President Danilo Medina.
"This ballclub is about emotion," said Dominican manager Tony Pena. "It is a unique group. We are going to enjoy every single moment of this because we don't know if this group is going to be together again. I doubt it."
Cano batted .469 overall with four doubles, two home runs and a tournament record 15 hits.
Dominican starting pitcher Deduno threw five innings, striking out five, and allowing no runs while walking three.
Deduno started quickly, retiring seven of the first eight batters he faced. He gave up a single to the first batter, Angel Pagan, but then settled in nicely, posting four strikeouts in the first two innings.
Puerto Rico starter Giancarlo Alvarado struggled from the outset, and lasted just one inning.
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