David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre each homered twice, leading the powerful Dominican Republic to an 11-5 victory over Venezuela in their World Baseball Classic opener Tuesday in Kissimmee, Fla.
Bartolo Colon pitched three scoreless innings for the win. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out two before leaving after 50 pitches, well below the first-round limit of 65.
Johan Santana yielded Ortiz’s first homer plus a second run that was unearned and took the loss. The Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano gave up Beltre’s first homer. His first pitch when he entered in the fifth inning was clocked at 99 m.p.h.
Miguel Cabrera and Edgardo Alfonzo homered for Venezuela, which rallied from a five-run deficit. But Ortiz and Beltre, who had five RBIs, hit two-run homers in the ninth as the Dominicans broke open a 6-5 game.
Puerto Rico 2, Panama 1: The White Sox’s Javiez Vazquez threw 57 pitches in three innings, giving up one run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts in San Juan. Bernie Williams delivered the tie-breaking single.
Italy 10, Australia 0: Jason Grilli and Riccardo De Santis combined for a one-hitter and Vince Sinisi and Mark Saccamanno homered in a game shortened to seven innings by the mercy rule in Kissimmee, Fla.
