1st walk-off HR in Classic history! Netherlands stuns Nicaragua on Albies blast

MIAMI – For eight innings Saturday, Team Netherlands looked helpless at the plate, stranding 10 men on base while going hitless in six tries with runners in scoring position.

One swing by Ozzie Albies erased all of that frustration, turning what would have been a crushing defeat into a Classic celebration.

Albies launched the first walk-off home run in World Baseball Classic history, lifting the Netherlands to a 4-3 win over Nicaragua in a pivotal matchup in Pool D at loanDepot park. It was the 10th walk-off win in WBC history, a record fourth by the Netherlands.

“I won't ever forget that,” Albies said.

As he connected with the first-pitch fastball from Angel Obando, only one thought ran through Albies’ mind.

“Time to celebrate,” Albies said. “The moment I hit it … I felt just like that. It hit the perfect spot on the bat, so I was really happy it happened at the right time.”

Jeter Downs had given Nicaragua a lead in the eighth, breaking a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run, leaving his team only six outs away from its first-ever WBC victory.

But the Netherlands mounted a two-out rally, getting a single by Ceddanne Rafaela and a fortuitous double by Xander Bogaerts, whose hard grounder to third could have ended the game, but it hit the bag and ricocheted into left field, bringing Albies to the plate with a chance to be the hero.

“That was bad luck for us,” Nicaragua manager Dusty Baker said. “They say it's a game of inches; that ball just hit the third base bag and bounced over.”

Baker chose not to intentionally walk Albies, who walked to the plate assuming he would be given first base.

“You don't put the winning run on base,” Baker said. “It was a crushing defeat, not only for us but for the whole country of Nicaragua. You've got to lick your wounds and then come back tomorrow.”

The win evens the Netherlands’ record in Pool D at 1-1, with games remaining against the Dominican Republic on Sunday and Israel on Tuesday. Nicaragua falls to 0-2, leaving them in a precarious position with only two games left in pool play.

Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively, combining to strand 22 runners on base through the first seven innings, each leaving the bases loaded on two separate occasions.

The only runs to that point came on Albies’ bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the third and Cheslor Cuthbert’s bases-loaded walk in the fifth, as both teams waited for one big hit that could potentially decide the game.

Erasmo Ramirez had given Nicaragua five strong innings of one-run ball, while Netherlands starter Jaitoine Kelly -- who became the youngest starting pitcher in WBC history at 18 years, 251 days -- threw two scoreless frames before handing the ball over to his bullpen.

The 1-1 game moved to the eighth when Downs -- who mistakenly thought his seventh-inning fly ball was going to leave the yard, then made a spectacular diving play on a Didi Gregorius grounder to end the seventh -- stepped to the plate with two outs and a runner at first. Lars Huijer threw a 1-0 sinker that Downs drilled to left-center, the 397-foot shot clearing the wall to set off a celebration in the Nicaragua dugout.

“I blacked out,” Downs said. “I don't even know what happened from the time I hit the ball and it went over the fence to when I got to home plate and in the dugout.”

After Rafaela and Bogaerts extended the ninth, Albies had one thought when he stepped to the plate.

“I just needed a hit to keep the rally going or tie the game because we have speed on the bases,” Albies said. “I said if he brings his best pitch, the fastball, I've got to put my best swing on it.”

He did precisely that, sending the ball 411 feet over the wall in right-center, breathing new life into his team as it tries to advance to the second round for the first time since 2017.

“It wasn't looking good for us,” Bogaerts said. “But a couple of guys in the lineup, you know who they are, we have experience. We proved it today and it was vital.”