Venezuela, Puerto Rico ready to make more noise (Sun., 7 p.m. ET ...
MIAMI -- It's bound to be another loud night at loanDepot park on Sunday as Venezuela and Puerto Rico face off in the World Baseball Classic. Both teams came out swinging in their Pool D openers on Saturday, making sure their fans in Miami knew they meant business.
In the matinee, Puerto Rico dominated Nicaragua to the tune of a 9-1 victory behind 2017 WBC MVP Marcus Stroman (then a member of Team USA). In the nightcap, Venezuela ate into Dominican ace Sandy Alcantara's pitch count to knock the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner out, thanks to an unexpected hero in David Peralta.
Here’s what you need to know about Sunday night’s matchup:
How you can watch: The game between Venezuela and Puerto Rico will be live on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday. Games are available on FOX, FS1, FS2, Tubi or FOX Deporters, and every game can be streamed online in the FOX Sports App. For international viewing options, click here.
How you can listen: Live audio coverage of all games will be carried on Sirius XM, TuneIn, MLB.com and in the MLB App.
What’s at stake: The 20 teams have been placed in four pools of five teams for the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, with each team playing the others in its pool once each and the teams with the two best records in each pool at the end of this round advancing to the knockout stage. Puerto Rico and Venezuela are each 1-0 after the first day of Pool D play. The other teams in Pool D are Israel, Nicaragua (0-1) and the Dominican Republic (0-1).
Matchup history: Venezuela won the first two meetings between the two powerhouses, taking down Puerto Rico in the 2006 and ‘09 Classics. Puerto Rico, however, has dominated the last three meetings and beat Venezuela twice in the ‘17 Classic, outscoring the Venezuelans, 24-2.
Anthony Santander, RF, Venezuela: Santander went 2-for-4 with a triple and a solo homer that put his team on the board in its opener on Saturday night. He also made an impressive catch to rob the Dominican Republic of what would have been an RBI hit.
Francisco Lindor, SS, Puerto Rico: Lindor was named the official captain for his squad, and he got off to a successful start to the tournament, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the opener against Nicaragua.