Venezuela rallies past Italy to reach first Classic final

MIAMI -- Outside, it was one of those relentless South Florida rains. But still, the hundreds of Venezuelan baseball fans who remained long after the last pitch of the World Baseball Classic semifinals had been thrown were in ecstasy. Thoroughly soaked but swept up in the moment, they sang, danced, chanted and cheered. And in the distance, you could hear drums beating, mouths whistling and car horns blaring.

You don’t truly know how much the World Baseball Classic means until you see what it means. And here, in the downpour outside loanDepot park, as Monday night gave way to Tuesday morning -- the day Venezuela would meet Team USA in the finale of this terrific tournament -- it was evident that it meant a lot.

Having taken down defending champion Japan in the quarterfinals and then dismissed the darlings of this WBC with a 4-2 victory over Italy, Venezuela has advanced to the Classic final for the first time.

And as much as it meant to those fans who didn’t let the rain postpone their party, it meant even more to Omar López, the Venezuela skipper who has dedicated his life to the game as a player, scout, instructor and coach and took a lot of flack when his team fell to the U.S. in the quarterfinals of this tournament back in 2023.

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“Criticism is always criticism, hatred is always hatred,” López said. “Sometimes they come with threats. But it doesn't matter. I am going to try to help people to transform that into positive energy. My goal is to educate, try to educate. The idea is to keep the values of Venezuelan people. I understand passion, but sometimes passion puts us at a different level.”

Venezuela, a country that has undergone significant economic and political upheaval, is on a different level when it comes to baseball. It’s the land that gave us Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown, Luis Aparicio’s game-changing speed, Dave Concepción's Gold Glove defense and Jose Altuve’s October taters.

But for all the talent the South American coastal country has brought to MLB -- more players, in fact, than any foreign nation other than the Dominican Republic -- its importance to the sport had been underrepresented on this particular stage.

Not anymore.

Despite losing the possibility of rostering Altuve and Pablo Lopez to injury, Venezuela pressed on. And those two prominent players were in attendance to root for their countrymen Monday.

That Venezuela had used a late-inning, two-out rally to overtake Italy and move on to the final only added to the emotional release. And if Venezuela can outlast a terrific, highly touted and heavily favored Team USA in the finals, the country will have an indelible image to represent its profound national passion.

The passion was evident Monday evening.

Though the Venezuelans were technically the visitors in this game, you wouldn’t know it from a crowd filled with fans who waved their yellow, blue and red flags and cranked up the volume when a three-run rally in the seventh turned this game on its head and abruptly ended the Italians’ espresso-fueled run.

There was one aboard, two out and Venezuela was trailing, 2-1, in the seventh.

Jackson Chourio, whose placement at No. 9 in Venezuela’s order despite being one of the best young players in the game speaks to the depth of the Venezuelan talent, singled off Michael Lorenzen to get runners on the corners and the fans on their feet.

And when Ronald Acuña Jr. grounded a single to left to score Andrés Giménez from third, the game was tied at 2 and the noise inside loanDepot was almost indescribable.

The hits and the cheers kept coming. Maikel Garcia lined a single to left to score Chourio with the go-ahead run, and Venezuela added on with a Luis Arraez run-scoring single. With each two-out RBI, the Venezuelan players poured out of the dugout. Arraez pounded his chest and pointed to the dugout and the crowd in celebration of a lead his team would not relinquish.

“We have to come tomorrow and play the same way we played against Japan, against Italy,” said Acuña, “and we have to show the world who Venezuela is.”

Prior to the seventh, this game was going as planned for Italy. There were no home runs to celebrate with coffee, kisses on the cheek and an Armani sport coat, but there was a quick 2-0 lead that the Italians manufactured in the second against Keider Montero. And though Aaron Nola surrendered a solo shot to Eugenio Suárez in the fourth, the veteran right-hander pitched well within the conditions of a late change to Italy’s starting plan.

Italy tried to “forza” its way to the finals by piggybacking Nola and originally slated starter Lorenzen. Though that plan didn’t ultimately work, the run put together by this posse of paisans who leaned into their lineage, celebrated the Italian-American stereotypes and simply had a blast playing ball together won’t soon be forgotten. Especially by Francisco Cervelli, the Venezuelan-born catcher with Italian roots who is actively trying to grow the game on The Boot.

“I just told the guys that they are the champions of this tournament,” Cervelli said afterward. “No one expected what they did. They are champions. They are incredible. They revolutionized Italy. They put another sport on the map, which is good. You know, there were many people watching the game, and it was the middle of the night. Seven million people watching this game against a team full of superstars. They fought. Yes, I'm very proud of them.”

But the so-called “visitors” were the victors. And now the Venezuelans are headed to a championship round befitting of their country’s special place in the sport.