Nelson Cruz hit his third home run of the tournament and Gregory Polanco also went deep, leading defending World Baseball Classic champion the Dominican Republic to a 3-0 victory Thursday night that pushed Venezuela to the brink of elimination. The Dominican Republic (1-1) had won 11 straight WBC games until losing to Puerto Rico in the Pool F opener on Tuesday night. Venezuela (0-2) fell victim to a United States comeback on Wednesday night. The Americans play Puerto Rico on Friday night. On Saturday, Puerto Rico faces Venezuela and the Dominican Republic faces the United States.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 17, 2017 06:22 UTC