Team USA came up short against Venezuela in the WBC final, but not before Bryce Harper left his mark

MIAMI — The record will reflect that Venezuela, a baseball-rich country with a loaded lineup and passionate fans who ring your ears with songs and chants, won the sixth edition of the World Baseball Classic.

Just not before the Showman showed up.

With the most talented U.S. team ever assembled in danger of getting shut out here Tuesday night, and with the pro-Venezuela crowd ready to party, Bryce Harper crushed a game-tying two-run homer to straightaway center field, javelin-tossed his bat, flexed for a camera after rounding third base, and provided irrefutable evidence that American players do, in fact, have fun playing the game.

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It was the highlight of the two-week tournament for Team USA, which overcame a loss to upstart Italy in pool play and criticism of its manager for being overconfident at best, clueless at worst.

And it woke up the American fans, who, for a few minutes, matched the Venezuelan supporters in decibel level and nearly blew the retractable roof off loanDepot Park.

But Venezuela struck back in the top of the ninth. Luis Arráez worked a leadoff walk before Javier Sanoja did his best Dave Roberts impression by stealing second and Eugenio Suárez followed with an RBI double for a 3-2 lead.

The U.S. went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, with Roman Anthony striking out against Daniel Palencia, who heaved his glove in the air to kick off a celebration of blue, yellow, and red jerseys. And for the second time in three years, the WBC was decided by one run with the Americans on the short end.

Many of the American players and staff watched from the third-base dugout. Harper, playing for the country for the first time since he was a teenager 17 years ago, didn’t linger among them.

It marked another close-but-no-cigar bid for a title for the Phillies superstar, who will have to try again in October after a regular season that is expected to lead to a fifth consecutive playoff appearance.

But results aside, Harper leaves the WBC after notching two of the U.S.’ three hits in the final. He singled to right field in the sixth inning before his theatrical homer, finishing the tournament 6-for-28. Three of those hits came in the last two games.

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The final was played against an unavoidable political backdrop a little more than two months after U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. But Venezuelan manager Omar López and the native players on the roster repeatedly steered clear of the topic.

“We’re here to [play] baseball,” Ronald Acuña Jr. said earlier in the week.

For their part, the Americans showed up dressed for the occasion. They spilled out from the team bus in game-worn USA hockey jerseys, a gift from the gold medalists. Judge, naturally, wore the ‘C’ that belonged to Auston Matthews; Harper repped alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk.

But as it happens, good juju only goes so far.

It certainly doesn’t warm up unseasonably chilly bats. And despite being brought together to mash, Team USA was mostly hushed. After pummeling Brazil and Great Britain for 24 runs in the first two games, Judge & Co. scored only 18 runs in the next four games against stiffer competition: Mexico, Italy, Canada, and the Dominican Republic.

And if not for Harper, they would’ve been muted entirely by Venezuela.

It started with Eduardo Rodríguez, the Diamondbacks lefty, who retired the first seven batters en route to allowing a solitary single in 4⅓ innings before López got aggressive in using his bullpen.

And it only got worse for the Americans.

López used six relievers in Monday night’s semifinal against Italy and said he awoke to messages from three major-league teams that asked him not to use their relievers on back-to-back nights.

“I sent my text back fighting for my guys, and then set a phone call with everybody,” López said in Spanish before the game. “When you talk and you get an agreement, you negotiate it. I have my guys tonight to go back-to-back if I need to, and that’s the most important thing.”

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Indeed, López leaned on his bullpen again. And it worked until Harper took Andrés Machado deep.

For most of the last three days, as they faced the more outwardly emotional players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, more stoic players from Team USA were asked if they have as much fun playing the game as their counterparts.

Harper offered himself as proof that they do.

“Every country has their way they play, right?” Harper said. “Latin American countries, a lot of energy, and I love watching it because that’s how I played when I was younger. I got in trouble for it, right?

“I came up, I used gray bats. I used different cleats, got my cleats cut. MLB told me I couldn’t use gray bats, couldn’t use my eye black, all that kind of stuff, right? I kind of got pounded for it.

“So, there’s an American way of basically what everybody talks about. But I think that’s so far from the truth.”

The truth, for two weeks, is that the U.S. got outplayed.

And Venezuela rules the baseball world.