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USA vs. Dominican Republic: Score and Reaction from World Baseball Classic 2017

Adam Wells@adamwells1985X.com LogoFeatured ColumnistMarch 12, 2017

Dominican Republic's Nelson Cruz (23) is congratulated after scoring on a single by Gregory Polanco during the second inning in a first-round game of the World Baseball Classic against Canada, Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

The Dominican Republic got a huge come-from-behind 7-5 win over the United States to clinch the top spot in Pool C at the 2017 World Baseball Classic

After trailing 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dominicans responded with seven unanswered runs to improve their record to 2-0. 

Nelson Cruz had the big blast for the Dominican Republic, hitting a three-run homer off Andrew Miller in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 6-5 lead, as the Seattle Mariners' official Twitter account relayed:

Mariners @Mariners

.@ncboomstick23 v. Andrew Miller. Advantage: Boomstick. In a big way. #WBC2017 https://t.co/XANolmjKBx

Starling Marte followed that with a solo shot two batters later. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Miller's rough outing was an infrequent occurrence for the Cleveland Indians' relief ace:

ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfo

Andrew Miller allows HR to Nelson Cruz and Starling Marté of Dominican Republic He had allowed 2 HR in relief only once in his MLB career

Fresh off a walk-off win against Colombia on Friday, Team USA seemed to be riding that wave of momentum thanks to a terrific start from Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman and a big offensive showing from San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford.

Stroman pitched 4.2 scoreless innings with just three hits allowed and four strikeouts. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Team USA's starting pitching over the first two WBC games has been tremendous:

ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfo

Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman combined in World Baseball Classic 8 2/3 IP 0 R, 3 H 7 K, 0 BB

Coming off an up-and-down 2016 in which he had a 4.37 ERA in a career-high 204 innings, Stroman appears to be on the verge of a true breakout.

The 25-year-old looked better in the second half of last season (3.68 ERA, 3.95 strikeout-to-walk ratio) and picked apart a Dominican lineup featuring Major League Baseball All-Stars Manny Machado, Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, Cruz and Adrian Beltre.

Timely offense supported Stroman's effort. The United States broke through with two runs in the top half of the third inning, highlighted by this flare double from Christian Yelich that scored Adam Jones, via WBC Baseball:

WBC Baseball @WBCBaseball

Safe to say @ChristianYelich is on 🔥 🔥 🔥. #WBC2017 https://t.co/1x3P5LCB4d

With the game being played in Marlins Park, even in front of a partisan Dominican Republic crowd, Yelich received a strong ovation from his hometown fans. 

Crawford would do a lot of the heavy lifting on offense. He had an RBI single in the top of the fourth and a sharp double in the sixth that scored Giancarlo Stanton, who had just knocked in a run of his own, to extend the USA lead to 5-0. Here's the first of Crawford's RBI via WBC Baseball:

WBC Baseball @WBCBaseball

.@bcraw35 shows the world that he’s more than just a good glove. https://t.co/lpPlwi8fLr #WBC2017 https://t.co/6BJFhMfnSj

Dominican starter Edinson Volquez only made it through 3.2 innings, giving up six hits and three runs (one earned) with one walk and two strikeouts. 

Despite facing a large deficit heading into the bottom half of the sixth, the Dominican Republic responded with two runs to make things interesting at 5-2. Machado opened the scoring for his team with a monster home run to left field, via MLB Network:

MLB Network @MLBNetwork

Manny Machado hit a MONSTER homer to put the Dominican Republic on the board! Can 🇩🇴 come back to best @USABaseball? Watch on #MLBNetwork! https://t.co/7UXH39iZI1

Daren Willman of MLBFarm.com provided the Statcast information on Machado's blast:

Daren Willman @darenw

Wow... Manny Machado's ridiculous HR. 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/Qt5qGdEoAW

The Dominicans would continue to chip away at the lead. Carlos Santana hit an RBI single later in the sixth inning, while Welington Castillo hit a double to deep left field that scored Marte in the bottom of the seventh. 

David Robertson, who was brought in to relieve Tanner Roark after Marte's double, settled things down for Team USA by getting Jose Reyes and Machado to ground out before striking out Cano to end the seventh. 

While Cruz's heroics will be seen on the highlight reels, credit also belongs to the Dominican bullpen. Jumbo Diaz gave up two runs, but five other relievers combined to give up one hit over 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and one walk. 

The Dominican win ensures it will be the top seed in Pool C and gives it a guaranteed spot in San Diego for the second round. 

Now the test begins for the United States. It will have to win on Sunday against Canada to avoid playing in a tiebreaker game Monday. 

One of the perils of having the World Baseball Classic take place during spring training is players are still getting into regular-season shape. Team USA found out the hard way with its bullpen collapse, and now it needs to quickly erase its memory to avoid going home early.

Postgame Reaction

After the win, Cruz told MLB Network's Jon Morosi about his heroics and gave a special shoutout to his MLB club:

MLB Network @MLBNetwork

.@ncboomstick23 talks about the electric atmosphere and his huge homer after the Dominican Republic beat @USABaseball! #WBC2017 https://t.co/KRPWsqHtcH

Machado used his meeting with the media to discuss how important it is to be representing the Dominican Republic. 

“I couldn’t be any happier than putting on this uniform & representing [the Dominican Republic] in my hometown," he said, via MLB Network PR.