HOUSTON — Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
The U.S. squad rebounded after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play left them needing help to advance to this round.
The Americans move on to face the Dominican Republic in a semifinal on Sunday in Miami. It will be the team’s third straight appearance in the semifinals and the fourth overall.
It’s another big win for the U.S. over its neighbors to the north, coming after the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams both beat Canada to win gold medals at the Milan Cortina Olympics last month.
Bo Naylor hit a two-run home run in Canada’s three-run sixth that cut the deficit to two runs. But the U.S. bullpen closed it out, capped by Mason Miller striking out the side in the ninth for the save.
Canada, which was in the quarterfinals for the first time, fell to 1-5 against the U.S. in the WBC.
Canada trailed by five runs when Owen Caissie walked with one out in the sixth and moved to second on a groundout by Abraham Toro. Tyler Black’s RBI single off Brad Keller cut the lead to 5-1.
Naylor’s shot to the second deck in right field came on Gabe Speier’s fifth pitch and got Canada within 5-3. It was the 10th home run the U.S. has allowed in five games in the tournament.
Canada had a shot to close the gap in the seventh when it had runners on second and third with no outs. But David Bednar retired the next three batters, with two strikeouts, to escape the jam.
U.S. starter Logan Webb allowed four hits and walked one with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Bobby Witt Jr. was on with one out in the first when Judge doubled before Witt scored on a groundout by Kyle Schwarber to give the U.S. an early lead. The double by Judge was the only extra-base hit of the night for the U.S.
Canada had a runner on first with two outs in the second when Witt made a leaping catch on a ball hit by Edouard Julien to end the inning.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the third when Alex Bregman singled on a ground ball to Toro. His throw to first sailed over Josh Naylor’s head and into the dugout and two runs scored to make it 3-0.
Roman Anthony singled with one out in the sixth before a walk by Cal Raleigh. Brice Turang singled on a grounder to center field to score Anthony and push the lead to 4-0. Crow-Armstrong sent the next pitch into center field for an RBI single before Witt grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Dominican Republic 10, South Korea 0
MIAMI — Austin Wells hit a walk-off three-run home run in the seventh inning that ended the game under a tournament rout rule, and the Dominican Republic beat South Korea 10-0 on Friday night to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
Seeking its second title and first since 2013, the Dominicans play the United States a semifinal Sunday in Miami and will start Luis Severino. The Dominicans are 5-0 in the tournament, have outscored opponents 51-10 while batting .312 and with 14 home runs tied the WBC record set by Mexico in 2009.
Fernando Tatis Jr. drove in two runs and has 11 RBIs in the tournament. He is tied for third in a single WBC, trailing only Masataka Yoshida’s 13 for Japan in 2023 and Wladimir Balentien’s 12 for the Netherlands in 2017.
Wells, who entered as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh, reached down and drove a first-pitch cutter from Hyeong Jun So off the front of the second deck in right. Wells was born in Arizona to a mother of Dominican descent.
He hit the Dominicans’ second walk-off home run of the tournament after Juan Soto’s drive ended a 12-1 group-stage win over the Netherlands.
Backed by three runs in the second inning and four in the third, winner Christopher Sánchez struck out eight in five innings of two-hit ball.
South Korea, which lost in a semifinal in 2006 and the final in 2009, had been eliminated in the first round three straight times before reaching a quarterfinal this year. The South Koreans had two hits, batted .222 and finished with a 5.91 ERA.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked against loser Hyun Jin Ryu and scored the game’s first run from first base with a headfirst slide on Junior Caminero’s double into the left-field corner. Julio Rodríguez followed with an RBI groundout and Tatis had a run-scoring single.
Soto scored on Guerrero’s double in a four-run fourth, hooking an arm around catcher Dong Won Park with a head-first slide.
