Domincan Republic advance to Pool D quarter-finals after dominant win over Israel

[p]With the win, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/venezuela/AVsaRYCE/"]Venezuela[/a] also advances to the Pool D quarter-finals. The two teams will face each other on March 11th, with the loser having to face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/japan/vuZGJUZ0/"]Japan[/a] in the next round. [/p][p]In their three games so far at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/dominican-republic/tAGs4ije/"]Dominican Republic[/a] has put up 12-12-10 runs, respectively. [/p][p]Meanwhile, Venezuela has put up 17 runs in their first two games. They face Nicaragua later on March 9th, who have already been eliminated from the WBC.[/p][h2]Recap and highlights[/h2][p]Both teams got started with a 1-2-3 first inning before the Dominican Republic took control in the second. [/p][p][b]After three walks to load the bases with two outs, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/perdomo-geraldo/M3m8c7eE/"]Geraldo Perdomo[/a] recorded the fourth walk of the inning to make it 1-0 for the DR. [/b][/p][p][b]Then, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tatis-fernando-jr/Ic5vhveI/"]Fernando Tatis[/a] Jr. launched the first home run of his WBC career with a grand slam to put them up 5-0. [/b][/p][embed guid="09fb04f2-0a85-4598-ad6b-0e04117b7fe2" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJNFWPPXpIU&pp=0gcJCa4KAYcqIYzv" social-type="youtube" /][p]The Dominican bats would stay dominant as they've been all tournament long. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cruz-oneil/M7B0V3OP/"]Oneil Cruz[/a] launched his second home run of the tournament to put the DR up 6-0 in the fourth inning off [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/israel/4tfBfri1/"]Israel[/a] pitcher [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/weiss-zack/tQFO7QG2/"]Zack Weiss[/a].[/p][p]Cruz finished the game going 0-for-0 at the plate.[/p][embed guid="14723753-bbca-4237-8731-1d7ba9e5a1b9" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3i_twy7iTc" social-type="youtube" /][p]DR starting pitcher [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bello-brayan/hdf8HGqB/"]Brayan Bello[/a] would then go back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, not allowing Israel to record a single hit in the second and third innings. [/p][p][b]It wasn't until the fourth that Israel finally got a hit, putting their only run on the board with a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/horwitz-spencer/fg0rrPoU/"]Spencer Horwitz[/a] solo shot that cut the lead to 6-1. [/b][/p][p]Horwitz and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mendlinger-noah/4WuckZ1P/"]Noah Mendlinger[/a] finished as the only two batters for Israel with a hit in the entire game.[/p][embed guid="b598bdc1-f9c9-4a12-bbc0-238fde1f2e7a" url="https://x.com/WBCBaseball/status/2031057267362021406?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Both teams would exchange another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth and almost did so again in the sixth - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/caminero-junior/lfKA0tS0/"]Junior Caminero[/a] hit a double player after a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/machado-manny/fkNZ90Jg/"]Manny Machado[/a] walk, which was followed up by a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/santana-carlos/dUZeDIsq/"]Carlos Santana[/a] lineout. [/p][p]Israel would go 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the sixth inning before the DR began to add a couple more runs to the board. [/p][p]After Tanner Jacobson replaced [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/federman-daniel/bZbmKYSk/"]Daniel Federman[/a] on the mound for Israel, Cruz would reach second a double. Jacobson would force [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ramirez-agustin/YquvmnJL/"]Agustín Ramírez[/a] to ground out, moving Cruz over to third. Geraldo Perdomo walked, then stole second, putting runners on second and third with one out. [/p][p][b]Tatis would come up to bat and drill a single to bring both runners home, making it 8-1 in the top of the seventh. [/b][/p][embed guid="12af2945-bbee-4978-94da-5beed733608a" url="https://x.com/WBCBaseball/status/2031068780873261122?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]After a bottom of the seventh where Mendlinger would record Israel's second hit of the game with a double, the Israeli bats failed to bring him home entering the eighth inning. [/p][p]The DR would tack on another run after a pair of walks and a single from Santana to load the bases. [/p][p][b]Ramirez would ground out, bringing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gonzalez-erik/K6D1DRjb/"]Erik Gonzalez[/a] home from third to make it 9-1. Then, for one last run, Gonzalez tripled to bring home a run, ending the game at 10-1. [/b][/p][embed guid="f13c2edc-4eee-4534-809e-a4fdd209e080" url="https://x.com/WBCBaseball/status/2031083301750890546?s=20" social-type="twitter" /]