The Dominican team beat the Italians and earned the right to face the United States in a Thursday, 14 March game that guarantees a seat in the World Baseball Classic semifinals in San Francisco, California. News commentator Huchi Lora described the game played yesterday Tuesday 11 March in Miami, Florida as a case of “mangu defeating pizza.”
It was a nerve-wracking game for Dominicans. The Italians got off to a roaring start, rallying for a four-run first inning, with the slow start of opening pitcher Edison Volquez who walked his first three batters. The Italians did not score again, though.
In the third, Jose Reyes batted a home run for the Dominican Republic that would be followed in the sixth by another by his teammate Robinson Cano. Cano already has 12 hits in 19 at-bats in the tournament. Powerhouse of the team, Reyes and Cano then engineered a three-run seventh inning, with Cano scoring the winning run.
Dominican players then sat down to watch the US defeat Puerto Rico, 7-1. With the US a major contender to win its first WBC pennant, mainstream US press is covering closely the games. There were features in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and USA Today covering the event.
www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/sports/baseball/dominican-republic-wins-again-but-remains-wary-of-us.html
www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/03/12/domincan-republic-rallies-to-beat-italy-world-baseball-classic/1982711/