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MIAMI (AP) -- Venezuela won the World Baseball Classic for the first time, rebounding from a blown eighth-inning lead to beat the United States 3-2 Tuesday night on Eugenio Suarez's tiebreaking double in the ninth.
Maikel Garcia's third-inning sacrifice fly and Wilyer Abreu's fifth-inning homer off rookie Nolan McLean built a 2-0 lead before a roaring pro-Latin America crowd. Meanwhile, left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez and lights-out relievers limited the Americans to two hits through the seventh.
Bobby Witt Jr. walked with two outs in the eighth and Bryce Harper drove the second straight changeup from Andres Machado over the center-field fence for a two-run homer that tied it. Harper slowly trotted around the bases and took time at third to salute coach Dino Ebel.
Luis Arraez walked against Garrett Whitlock starting the ninth. Pinch-runner Javier Sanoja stole second just ahead of catcher Will Smith's throw and came home when Suarez doubled to the left-center gap. Suarez spread his arms wide and pointed to the sky at second base while teammates streamed from the dugout to greet Sanoja at the plate.
Daniel Palencia struck out two in a perfect bottom half to finish a three-hitter and get his third save of the WBC, striking out Roman Anthony to end the game. Venezuelans ran onto the infield to celebrate as the dismayed Americans stared while leaning on their dugout railing.
"Nobody believed in Venezuela but now we win the championship," Suarez said. "This is a celebration for all the Venezuelan country."
Garcia was selected the tournament MVP after hitting .385 with seven RBIs.
Despite a heralded roster of stars led by Aaron Judge, Harper and Paul Skenes, the U.S. lost its second straight final of baseball's premier international event and remained without a title since 2017.
Judge was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in the championship game and hit .222 with five RBIs in the tournament, while Harper batted .214 with three RBIs and Alex Bregman .143 with four RBIs. The U.S. scored nine runs in the three knockout-round games while batting .188.
Ahead of a matchup with political overtones, players and coaches avoided discussing the government turmoil between the nations, heightened when the U.S. military captured Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro in January. The sellout crowd of 36,190 at loanDepot park was heavily pro-Venezuela, with some booing American players during the introductions.
Venezuela became the second Latin American nation to win the WBC, after the Dominican Republic in 2013. The U.S. took the title in 2017 and lost the 2023 final to three-time champion Japan on this field.
Repeatedly during the tournament, Venezuelan players described the team as a family, and brothers Willson and William Contreras went on the podium together to receive their medals. Most fans remained a half-hour after the final out and joined players in singing Venezuela's national anthem, "Gloria al Bravo Pueblo (Glory to the Brave People)."
"We play with passion, with love, because we feel the jersey," Suarez said.
In the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, people also sang the anthem as they gathered in a public plaza to the racket of honking horns from cars and motorcycles.
"I'm overjoyed. It's too much for me!" high school student Yorleiny Mestra said. "The United States is a superpower, and the fact that we beat them makes me very proud of Venezuela."
While the U.S., Japan and the Dominican Republic got much of the attention ahead of the sixth edition of the 20-nation event, Venezuela's success was not that surprising. Sixty-three players born in Venezuela appeared on Major League Baseball opening-day rosters last year, second-most from outside the U.S. behind the Dominican Republic's 100.
Venezuela went ahead in the third inning against McLean, getting the start because Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers decided the two-time Cy Young Award winner would make only a first-round appearance.
Salvador Perez sliced a first-pitch single and Ronald Acuna Jr. walked with one out. The runners advanced when McLean bounced a curveball, and Garcia followed with a sac fly to center.
Abreu doubled the lead when he drove a fastball 414 feet to center. His helmet fell off when he rounded second and he hopped in excitement as he neared the plate, where he was greeted by a line of teammates.
Rodriguez allowed one hit in 4 1/3 innings before Venezuela turned to its bullpen.
U.S. players had arrived at loanDepot park in game-worn U.S. Olympic hockey jerseys coordinated by outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jack Hughes, who scored the gold medal-winning goal against Canada last month.
In a darkened ballpark filled by fans wearing wristbands with festive blinking lights, Judge and Arraez led the teams down the foul lines for the introductions while carrying their nation's flags.
Baseball fans win
MIAMI (AP) -- Pablo Cuerta was watching batting practice before the U.S.-Venezuela championship game at the World Baseball Classic, when the realization hit him.
He couldn't lose.
There were thousands of Venezuelans at the game in Miami on Tuesday night. There were thousands of Americans at the game as well. And some -- like Cuerta, a Venezuelan-American -- got to basically cheer for both sides. His shirt: a Venezuela jersey. His hat: the Venezuelan team cap. And draped over his shoulders, tied across his chest: the U.S. flag.
"I was born in Venezuela, and this country gave me the opportunity to come, to be a citizen," said Cuerta, who drove from his home near Orlando for the final days of the tournament in Miami. "I appreciate both countries, you know. One, I was born in Venezuela. And two, this one gave me everything I've got. So, I'm proud to have both countries."
As they have throughout the tournament, Venezuelan fans showed up in a big way to see their team in Miami; all seven of Venezuela's games at the WBC were played inside the Miami Marlins' ballpark. From the outset, these unusual political times -- Venezuela's deposed leader Nicolas Maduro is currently jailed in New York and facing drug trafficking charges, after American forces executed a military operation in Venezuela earlier this year to capture him -- have not had much of an effect on the joy Venezuelans have for this event, even with it being played on U.S. soil.
When both flags were brought to home plate as part of the pregame ceremony, the building simply roared.
"Super emotional with Venezuela and being here for the championship game. This is beyond sport. It is well deserved," said Argenis Masiaf, a Miami resident who had the Venezuelan flag painted on his face for the game. "We have lived through many difficult things inside our country. This is the moment for Venezuela to accomplish something so special and memorable."
Venezuela's players and coaches have tried to avoid all political talk. They've said in many ways that they're at the WBC to play baseball, and manager Omar Lopez reiterated that sentiment before the final.
Lopez did, however, acknowledge how much getting to the title game -- and getting to play the U.S. -- means to Venezuela, a baseball-mad South American country of about 32 million people. He said he expected "the whole country" to be watching.
"Tonight, everyone is going to be together," Lopez said. "The whole country is going to be paralyzed to watch the game, and together we are going to have better generations for our country, united with no color, political colors or ideology. We have people with double citizenship. This is the only way.
"We have sports. Baseball is one of the best tools or ways to educate a country. Discipline, dedication, determination. If you don't believe in that, you should start believing. You have to believe in that."
Thirty human beings today are going to unite Venezuela through a baseball game."
He was right.
In Caracas -- Venezuela's capital and highest-populated city -- the streets were empty Tuesday night. Thousands of people, many of them children, gathered at a public plaza to watch the game, many dancing and waving Venezuelan flags.