It was a toque de queda (curfew) with Dominican streets quiet as families and friends tuned into “the game.” Team DR secured a hard-fought 7-5 victory over Venezuela at the IoanDepot ball park in Miami, Florida and moved to the quarterfinals with a first round 2026 WBC record 13 home runs.
Albert Pujols and Nelson Cruz’s team got the job done in Pool D to clinch the group 4-0. The win means Team DR will face South Korea on Friday (6:30pm ET). Quarterfinal games are scheduled for the IoanDepot ball park in Miami, Florida.
Venezuela now gets to face formidable reigning champion Japan (winner of three WBCs – 2006, 2009, 2023) on Saturday. Japan, Italy and the Dominican Republic are the only teams to have won all their games in their pools.
For the game against Venezuela, the Dominican Republic needed all its runs, six pitchers and all the fan support in the packed IoanDepot stadium (36,230 fans). Sandy Alcántara was the starter, but allowed two runs. Two pitchers were needed in the 9th when Venezuela put the men in base to tie. Closer Elvis Alvarado induced a sacrifice fly and eventually the game ended 5-4-3 double play to seal the win, also thanks to a superb play by team captain Manny Machado.
The crowd-pleasing home runs were the two-run home run by Juan Soto in the first inning, followed by runs by Ketel Marte, Vladimir Guerrero and Fernando Tatis.
“The Dominican offense is big,” Venezuela manager Omar López said during the follow-up press conference. “You cannot make mistakes.”
MLB reported that no team at the World Baseball celebrates a home run like the Dominican Republic. On all four homers, the Dominican sluggers saluted the crowd as they circled the bases. On all four homers, Team DR players spilled out of the dugout for the ritual salute as the home run hitter returned to the dugout.
The Dominican Republic now has 13 home runs at the end of pool play, the most of any team in the 2026 Classic and the most by any WBC team ever through its first four games. The record home runs by a team is held by Mexico with 14 for the entire 2009 WBC. As of 12 March 2026, the DR has set a new record by hitting 13 home runs in the first round alone. Since the Dominican team is now moving on to the quarterfinals, the team is expected to extend this record significantly.
“When you have lineups such as the one we have, it’s going to be a problem for our rivals,” Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols said during the after-game press conference. “This is what happened today. This is what they have been doing throughout the tournament.”
The Dominican Republic has now won five of the six meetings against Venezuela in a Classic. Venezuela’s only win came in the last Classic in 2023.
The teams moving on to the next phase are:
Pool A: Canada and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico gets to play Italy.
Pool B: Italy and the United States. USA gets to play Canada.
Pool C: Japan and Korea. Korea gets to play the DR.
Pool D (Dominican Republic and Venezuela). Venezuela gets to play Japan.
The WBC now takes on a tournament-style, single-elimination format. The quarterfinals begin with a two-game slate on Friday, with two more games to follow on Saturday.
The schedule for the quarter finals is:
Friday night, the Dominican Republic will face Korea (6:30pm ET), while Team USA will take on Canada (8pm ET). On Saturday, Italy will battle Puerto Rico (3 pm ET), while Japan will face Venezuela (9pm ET).
Diario Libre reported that the Dominican team went for Dominican food at Milly’s Restaurant to celebrate. Thursday is a rest day off for the team.
Those in the Dominican Republic can watch the games on Channel 32, 39 and 10.
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MLB
Diario Libre
Albert Pujols press conference
12 March 2026