Aaron Judge hails World Baseball Classic crowds as 'bigger and better than the World Series'

MIAMI (AP) — On a night when All-Stars and future Hall of Famers thrilled fans and each other until the final out, Aaron Judge proclaimed the World Baseball Classic had grown into the sport's biggest event.

“The World Series I was in, the crowd here, the crowd we had when we played against Mexico, it’s bigger and better than the World Series," the U.S. captain said after a 2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republic that came down to Sunday night's final pitch. “The passion that these fans have, representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it.”

American tradition emphasizing understatement on a team led by Judge and Bryce Harper was showcased against Latin flair on a side featuring Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. When Junior Caminero homered against Paul Skenes to put the Dominicans ahead in the second inning, he celebrated with an overhand bat flip.

In the sixth tournament of an event that started in 2006, the game featured starting lineups featuring 17 All-Stars totaling 56 selections among the 20 starters. They had won five MVP awards, one Cy Young, five Rookies of the Year and three batting titles.

Before a crowd of 36,337 at IoanDepot park, the U.S. overcame the deficit on fourth-inning home runs by Gunnar Henderson off Luis Severino and Roman Anthony against Gregory Soto.

Anthony, at 21 the youngest American player, had bought a ticket for the 2023 WBC final in Miami and watched from the seats as Japan beat the U.S. 3-2.

“Coming to the WBC here, you dream of representing this country and being here the next time around,” Anthony said.

American relievers allowed two hits over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, capped by Mason Miller topping 100 mph with 13 of 22 pitches. Miller's last appeared to be low for ball four to Geraldo Perdomo but plate umpire Cory Blaser emphatically signaled strike three.

“Just a game we’ll remember forever, right?” U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said. “We understood this was going to be a talked-about game, probably one of the most watched games of all time.”

Dynamic defense was commonplace.

With the U.S. trailing by a run in the third, Judge threw a 95.7 mph strike from right field to third base to cut down Fernando Tatis Jr. for the inning's final out. Judge then made a diving backland catch to rob Soto, his former New York Yankees teammate, in the fourth.

Julio Rodríguez denied Judge a home run with a leaping catch at the center-field wall in the fifth, 407 feet from the plate.

“I was like, OK, maybe we got a shot here,” Judge recalled. “But hit it to a guy like J-Rod, who’s one of the best if not the best center fielder in the game, he’s going make exciting plays like that in big moments.”

Shortstop Bobby Witt ranged to the right field side of the infield to snag Soto's slow bouncer in the fifth, scrambled to back to touch second base and made an off-balance throw to first for an inning-ending double play. One inning later, Witt threw out Manny Machado at first from the outfield grass.

Pitching moments were memorable, too.

Dominican starter Luis Severino stranded runners at second and third in the third inning when he struck out Judge and Kyle Schwarber, and Skenes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Austin Wells flied out.

Wells doubled with one out in the seventh and the relatively slow-footed catcher was held at third on Perdomo's single to Crow-Armstrong in center. David Bednar then struck out Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte on breaking balls below the strike zone.

Before Miller got the strike three call in the ninth, Perdomo had fouled off a pair of full-count pitches.

“The whole world saw in two teams some of the best players in the game,” said Dominican manager Albert Pujols, a likely future Hall of Famer.

Rosters included 18 of the 41 players who received MVP votes last year.

Judge gave a postgame speech to teammates, looking ahead to Tuesday's championship against Venezuela or Italy. He had perceived a special night Sunday from the start.

“You get chills standing there on the line, hearing them announce all the names,” he said. “It was like an All-Star team they got over there.”