MIAMI – Saved by a perfect Jose Bautista throw home in the bottom of the ninth, the Dominican Republic fought off the relentless Colombians for a riveting 10-3, 11-inning win Sunday that clinched Pool C and kept Canada’s faint hopes of advancing at the World Baseball Classic alive.
Welington Castillo ripped a two-run single ahead of Jean Segura’s three-run double to highlight a decisive seven-run rally, played under tournament rules in which from the 11th inning onward, teams open with runners on first and second.
The defending champions only got that far thanks to Bautista, who with men on the corners and one out in the ninth, caught Reynaldo Rodriguez’s liner and made a terrific throw home to Castillo that cut down pinch-runner Oscar Mercado at the plate.
"I felt pretty good," Bautista said of his release. "It wasn’t the strongest, but I purposely just tried to make an accurate one instead of a strong one because I felt like I was close enough that if I just got a quick release, and made an accurate throw, we were going to have a chance. …
"It was fortunate that the ball wasn’t hit deeper and that I was able to make a good transition and make an accurate throw. All the credit goes to Welington for applying the tag because I know the throw did take him up the line a little bit."
Castilo took a few steps up the line and corralled the throw just as a hard-charging Mercado slammed into him in a lunge for the plate. Home plate umpire Tripp Gibson immediately signalled out and the Colombians went wild arguing, perhaps that Castillo blocked the path home, to no avail.
"I don’t know why they were complaining, but the throw took me to the line," said Castillo. "It’s do or die, I went for the ball and I didn’t care about the runner. I went down the line to get the throw.
"Bautista deserves a lot of credit, he made a really good throw. I went a little bit in front of the plate, got the ball and tagged the guy."
Said Bautista: "The one thing that got me rattled a little bit was the way they were reacting. It looked like they felt they had a legit argument, so I was thinking the ball got dropped or something. But it was a clean play."
Colombia manager Luis Urueta agreed, believing the reaction of his players was simply frustration.
"For me, he was out," said Urueta, who guided his team with a steady hand. "I don’t see anything controversial. Maybe the emotions got hold of the players. That’s normal. Maybe they were a few inches from qualifying over the Dominican Republic and the U.S. (and that) would have been a feat. So it was normal for these guys.""
Colombia’s faint hopes of advancing now rest on a Canada victory over the United States leaving all three teams at 1-2, and a complex tiebreaker formula falling their way to set up a tiebreaker contest Monday.
Under the formula, in which the lowest total of runs allowed in games between the tied teams is divided by defensive innings, Canada would need to either beat the Americans by at least three runs or win by shutout in 10 or more innings to set up another do-or-die game with the U.S.
An American victory pushes them to the second round at 2-1, leaving Canada last in the group at 0-3.
Ryan Dempster starts against Danny Duffy.
The Dominicans finished pool play 3-0 thanks to the four hour 44 minute victory, and advanced to the second round in San Diego.
Bautista was right in the middle of the action all afternoon before a raucous crowd of 36,952, opening the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. In the third, his groundball booted by shortstop Donovan Solano scored Manny Machado, who ripped an RBI double two batters earlier, for a 3-1 lead.
An RBI double by Mauricio Ramos in the sixth cut into the Dominican lead before Jorge Alfaro tied it in the eighth inning with a solo shot off Fernando Rodney – mimicking the closer’s bow and arrow pose as he returned to the dugout.
But the Colombians missed their opportunity in the ninth before the might of the Dominicans rained down upon them.
Bautista finished the day with two hits, an RBI and a run scored and is batting .455 through the tournament’s first three games. He also slammed his bat into the dirt after a groundout in the eighth.
"You’re always trying to give the best you can and you expect a lot out of yourself in certain situations where you feel you can make something happen, at least that’s the way I see it," said Bautista. "I do those things to kind of kick myself in the rear end. Emotions do run high in a short tournament, especially when it’s this important and every game was important to us in this round because if we would have lost, we would have to potentially play a tiebreaker (Monday) and we certainly didn’t want to do that."
Thanks in large part to Bautista, they won’t have to.
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