MIAMI — Six months ago, Aaron Judge could hardly throw a baseball. On Sunday night, Team USA’s captain changed the entire World Baseball Classic with his right arm.
With Team USA trailing 1-0 in the third inning of a highly anticipated semifinal matchup with the Dominican Republic, D.R. second baseman Ketel Marte clanged a two-out liner into right field. The fleet-footed Fernando Tatis Jr. rounded second and dashed toward third without breaking stride. Judge, all 6-foot-7, 282 pounds of him, charged to the bounding ball, gathered it into his 12.75-inch Rawlings glove and uncorked a 95.7-mph lightning bolt.
The throw, Judge’s hardest since the 2024 World Series, reached Gunnar Henderson at third base 2.3 seconds later. He slapped a tag down onto an outstretched Tatis, who tumbled to the turf, disappointed and very, very out. Juan Soto, who would’ve hit next with two on and two out, trudged back to the dugout.
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But Judge’s throw did more than end a threat and an inning. It flipped the entire game on its head.
“That was just a rocket of a throw,” Henderson told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi after the game. “He’s unbelievable for a reason. He got the boys fired up right there.”
“It was beautiful,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong gushed.
“That [throw] was huge,” Bobby Witt Jr. said on the broadcast after the game.
Henderson, the very next USA hitter, tied the proceedings with an electrifying solo shot to right field. Two batters later, Red Sox youngster Roman Anthony doubled things up with a big fly of his own. The Americans wouldn’t score again the rest of the night. They wouldn’t need to.
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A strong performance from Skenes and an absolutely dominant showing from the American bullpen propelled Team USA to a nail-biting, 2-1 victory over a Dominican team that had yet to lose in the World Baseball Classic.
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The night was billed as a clash of titans, a showdown between the two most talented lineups ever assembled. Every single hitter in the Team D.R. lineup except catcher Austin Wells received an MVP vote in 2025. Team USA’s top four hitters — Bobby Witt Jr, Bryce Harper, Judge and Kyle Schwarber — averaged 40 long balls last season.
As it turned out, pitching ruled the night, and that kept the fireworks to a minimum. The game was more tense than exhilarating, more suspenseful than explosive, and it lacked a final act worthy of the stakes. Unfortunately, it might be remembered more for how it ended — with a brutal called third strike on Geraldo Perdomo — than how it transpired.
But nobody in attendance will forget Judge’s laser beam of a throw.
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It was a remarkable play, one that seemed physically impossible toward the end of last season, when Judge was battling a significant elbow issue that left him compromised on defense. The Yankees superstar hit the injured list in July after being diagnosed with a flexor strain. He came back less than two weeks later but didn’t appear in the outfield until early September and looked incredibly tentative when throwing upon his return.
A winter of rest seems to have done Judge’s arm a world of good. When healthy, the three-time MVP has one of the hottest rockets in the sport, something Tatis and Co. relearned the hard way on Sunday.
Celebrated all tournament for their unapologetic, brash and exciting style of play, Team D.R. seemed to cocoon somewhat after Judge’s play and the two fourth-inning long balls. Crucially, Judge’s throw appeared to drastically alter how the Dominicans ran the bases for the rest of the evening. Caution, not aggression, suddenly ruled the day.
“Doing something like that definitely puts that idea [in the other team’s head],” Crow-Armstrong explained afterward.
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Case in point: Two innings after Tatis was cut down, he cautiously pulled up at second instead of racing toward third on another Marte single. The next batter, Juan Soto, grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The seventh inning created even more regret for the Dominicans. With Austin Wells stationed in scoring position at second base, Perdomo clocked a liner just over Witt’s outstretched glove at shortstop. Wells barrelled toward third, home his final destination. But third-base coach Carlos Febles threw his hands into the air, and Wells slammed on the brakes. The throw from center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was offline, reaching catcher Will Smith 10 or so feet up the first baseline.
USA reliever David Bednar struck out the next two hitters, Tatis and Marte, to escape the jam.
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“I think that throw today definitely changed the way … maybe it was the base coaches, maybe it was the players. It made a shift somewhere, for sure,” Crow-Armstrong said.
Team USA’s fortunes, all of a sudden, have shifted as well.
After an embarrassing loss to Italy last week, the Stars and Stripes have rattled off two elimination-game victories. They are through to the final on Tuesday against the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Venezuela and Italy.
And while this offense, with all its household names, continues to underwhelm, Team USA’s pitching, defense and captain did just enough against the Dominican Republic to keep its tournament going.