Fittingly, the final of the World Baseball Classic was an exhibition of Dominican dominance from wire to wire. The Dominican Republic did not lose a game from pool play through San Francisco, and the Dominican republic led from the bottom of the first through the bottom of the ninth in the final against Puerto Rico.
But the Puerto Ricans had their chances. Outside of a pair of mistake pitches to Edwin Encarnacion and Erick Aybar, Puerto Rico’s pitching staff shut down the formidable Dominican lineup. Sam Deduno pitched the game of his life and kept the Puerto Ricans off the board through five innings. Puerto Rico’s best chance didn’t come until manager Tony Pena avariciously attempted to squeeze two innings out of Octavio Dotel. Predictably, the 39-year-old wasn’t up to the task. Puerto Rico’s first two batters reached and the Dominicans faced their biggest challenge of the game.
