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MIAMI — Trea Turner didn’t jog his way to first base. He hopped. Pranced. Flexed. Roared.

With his team trailing by two in the eighth inning of its World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game against Venezuela, the Philadelphia Phillies shortstop and Team USA catalyst unleashed a prodigious grand slam, providing the two-run lead that proved to be the definitive blow in an emotional, back-and-forth 9-7 victory at LoanDepot Park on Saturday night.

Turner, a World Series champion with the Washington Nationals in 2019, identified it as the biggest hit of his baseball career.

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa took it a step further.

“Being honest with you, it’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” said DeRosa, whose team will play Cuba in Sunday’s semifinals. “Someone had to win; someone had to lose.”

DeRosa spent a couple of months in the Venezuelan winter league in 1999 and was struck by the atmosphere. It stuck with him as he navigated through a 16-year major league career as an infielder, and he drew on it as his team prepared to face a talented Venezuelan team in the quarterfinals. He remembered riding the bus to Magallanes to face Caracas’ fierce rival and thought Sunday’s game would bring similar intensity. He wanted his players to match it.

“That’s why I wanted to have a meeting before we went out there,” DeRosa said. “I knew we were going to be in a hostile environment. Even though we’re in the U.S., I knew it was going to be kind of like a road game for us. I just wanted our guys, when we got rolling, to come out of the dugout and kind of send a message that we were going to match their energy.”

DeRosa’s vision became reality immediately. The United States began the game with five consecutive hits against Texas Rangers left-hander Martin Perez, ratcheting up the intensity with each one. Team USA built an early three-run lead then answered every time it needed to.

After Venezuela cut the deficit to one with a two-run home run by Luis Arraez in the bottom of the first — his first of two homers — the U.S. tacked on a couple of insurance runs with a sacrifice fly by Mookie Betts in the fourth and a solo shot by Kyle Tucker in the fifth.

And shortly after Venezuela captured its first lead with a four-run bottom of the fifth — the product of a disastrous performance by Daniel Bard, who plunked Jose Altuve in the right hand, forcing his exit, and uncorked two wild pitches — the U.S. came back for good.

Team USA loaded the bases with none out in the top of the eighth against left-hander Jose Quijada, who surrendered a walk to Tim Anderson, a single to pinch hitter Pete Alonso and a hit by pitch to J.T. Realmuto. Turner, the $300 million shortstop who bats ninth in this lineup, was up next, prompting Venezuela manager Omar Lopez to turn to right-hander Silvino Bracho.

“I didn’t know much about the pitcher throwing, so for me, it was just try not to do too much,” Turner said. “I’ve got Mookie and [Mike] Trout behind me. The lineup’s crazy. It’s just keep the line moving and make good decisions and just react.”

Turner reacted to an 0-2 changeup, a pitch that spilled right out over the heart of the plate. He sent it 407 feet out to left field, delivering the blast that eliminated a Venezuela team that was every bit as talented.

“It’s frustrating,” Lopez said in Spanish. “It’s frustrating when a team is fighting from beginning to end and any little thing that happens in the game, because it’s baseball, makes you lose a game. Unfortunately, that’s what it’s like. And we have to embrace it. We have to, like men, pick our heads up. It’s not easy.”

Turner became the third U.S. player to hit a grand slam in the World Baseball Classic, joining David Wright and Jason Varitek. It went down as the first go-ahead slam in the sixth inning or later in tournament history. Before it landed, most of his teammates had already spilled out of the dugout in celebration. A sellout crowd followed suit, marking the first time all night that the U.S. cheers had drowned out those for Venezuela.

In the ninth, as Ryan Pressly navigated through a save, “USA” chants filled the air.

“This is pretty much postseason atmosphere, and we’re getting it right in the middle of spring training,” Pressly said. “It’s a great team over there, and it almost makes me kind of want to go play in winter ball a little bit and see how rowdy these fans get. It looks really fun, and I was glad to be a part of it.”

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Nats slugger Wood commits to Home Run Derby

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Nats slugger Wood commits to Home Run Derby

Washington Nationals slugger James Wood will bring his massive power to the big stage, becoming the third player to commit to the July 14 Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Wood, 22, has delivered 22 home runs in 86 games during his first full major league season. He was acquired by the Nationals in 2022 as part of the package of top prospects Washington received in the trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres.

Wood announced the commitment on Instagram, with a video montage of himself, along with video clips of former Atlanta Braves star Hank Aaron hitting his record 714th home run in 1974. The video included the words, “Derby bound.”

Wood has 12 homers that have been hit harder than 110 mph. It’s the second most in the league behind Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani‘s 13. Wood also has four dingers that have been launched longer than 445 feet.

The Seattle MarinersCal Raleigh and the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. also have committed to the event, with five more participants still to be named.

Raleigh, who would become the first catcher to win the event, has a major-league-best 33 home runs. Acuna has nine home runs in 36 games after returning from a torn left ACL that also limited him to 49 games last season.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers already has said he will not defend his Home Run Derby crown.

Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Astros GM: Alvarez setback not as bad as feared

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Astros GM: Alvarez setback not as bad as feared

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez‘s setback to his recovery from a fractured right hand is not as serious as first feared, general manager Dana Brown said Thursday.

Alvarez, who suffered the injury on May 2, was shut down after experiencing pain in his right hand. He had taken some swings at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday and when he arrived there Tuesday, the area was sore.

He was examined by a specialist, who determined inflammation was the issue and not a setback with the fracture.

“It had nothing to do with the fracture, or the fracture not being healed,” Brown said before Houston’s game at Colorado. “The fracture at this point is a nonfactor, which we’re very glad about. And so during the process of him being examined by the specialist, we saw the inflammation, and Yordan did receive two shots in that area.”

Alvarez first experienced issues with his hand in late April but stayed in the lineup. He was initially diagnosed with a muscle strain but a small fracture was discovered at the end of May.

Brown said there has not been an update on the timetable for Alvarez’s return but said with the latest update it “could be in the near future.”

“Yordan is going to be in a position where he’s going to let rest and let the shot take effect, and then as long as he’s starting to feel better, we’ll put a bat in his hand before we start hitting, but we’ll just let him feel the bat feels like,” Brown said. “And then we’ll get into some swings in the near future, but I felt like it was encouraging news. Now, with this injection into the area that was inflamed, we feel a lot better.”

Alvarez, who averaged 34 home runs over the previous four seasons, has just three in 29 games this year and is batting .210. He was the 2021 ALCS MVP for the Astros and finished third in the AL MVP voting for 2022.

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Sources: Guardians’ Ortiz faces gambling inquiry

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Sources: Guardians' Ortiz faces gambling inquiry

Cleveland Guardians right-hander Luis Ortiz is under investigation by Major League Baseball after a betting-integrity firm flagged a pair of pitches that had received unusual gambling activity, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

Sources said betting-integrity firm IC360 sent an alert in June to sportsbook operators regarding Ortiz, whom MLB has placed on “non-disciplinary paid leave” through July 17.

The alert, according to sources who reviewed it, referenced action on Ortiz’s first pitches in select innings to be a ball or a hit batsman in two games: June 15 against the Seattle Mariners and June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals. In both the bottom of the second inning against the Mariners and the top of the third inning against the Cardinals, Ortiz threw a first-pitch slider that was well outside the strike zone.

The alert on Ortiz’s first pitches flagged bets in Ohio, New York and New Jersey. Betting on the result of first pitches is offered by some sportsbooks, with such wagers commonly referred to as microbets.

Ortiz’s paid leave, which ends at the conclusion of the All-Star break, was negotiated between the league and the MLB Players Association. If the investigation remains open, the leave could be extended.

Ortiz had been scheduled to start Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

“The Guardians have been notified that Luis Ortiz has been placed on leave per an agreement with the Players Association due to an ongoing league investigation,” the team said in a statement. “The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process.”

The investigation into Ortiz’s potential violation of the league’s gambling policy comes a little more than a year after MLB levied a lifetime ban against San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for placing nearly 400 bets on baseball. Four other players received one-year suspensions for gambling on baseball while in the minor leagues. In February, MLB fired umpire Pat Hoberg — widely recognized as the best ball-strike arbiter in the game — for “sharing” a legal sports betting account with a friend who bet on baseball and later deleting messages key to the investigation.

A 26-year-old starting pitcher, Ortiz was acquired by Cleveland from the Pittsburgh Pirates over the winter as part of the three-team trade in which the Guardians sent second baseman Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. With a 4-9 record and 4.36 ERA, Ortiz has been a staple in a Guardians rotation whose 4.13 ERA ranks 18th in MLB.

Ortiz’s leave comes amid a slide for the Guardians, who have lost six consecutive games to drop to 40-44. While Cleveland remains in second place in the American League Central, it trails first-place Detroit by 12½ games.

Ortiz signed with the Pirates in 2018 at 19 years old, far later than the typical prospect, and didn’t reach full-season ball until 2021. He quickly shot through the Pittsburgh organization and debuted in 2022, eventually throwing 238⅓ innings and posting a 3.93 ERA in his three seasons with the Pirates.

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