MIAMI – Taking the lead in the top of the eighth on a two-run homer by Jeter Downs, an infielder who had originally committed to play for Colombia, it looked like Nicaragua’s first win at the World Baseball Classic was a moment scripted for the silver screen.
The game ended cinematically, but the title of the movie might be “A Nicaraguan Nightmare On Marlins Way.”
Down 3-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Cedanne Rafaela singled to center field, Xander Bogaerts doubled on weak grounder that hit the third base bag and bounded over the glove of Nicaragua’s Cheslor Cuthbert, bringing Ozzie Albies to the plate as the tying run. Albies launched the first pitch he saw 411 feet over the right field wall, deflating the heavily Nicaraguan crowd at loanDepot Park with a game-ending three-run homer that gave the Netherlands a 4-3 win and denied Nicaragua its first WBC win.
The homer was the first come-from-behind game-ending homer in World Baseball Classic history.
“Yeah, it was a heck of a game. No, I didn’t think about walking Ozzie because you don’t put the winning run on base,” Nicaragua manager Dusty Baker said following the game. “The ball just caught too much of the plate. Obando, he did a heck of a job for us. Big play is when that ball hit the bag. And started with a flare with two strikes, two outs, and then the ball hit the bag. So no, I wasn’t thinking about — I thought about possibly turning it around, but Ozzie, I think he’s a better hitter right-handed than he is left-handed.”
Prior to the game, Baker was asked what he told his team following the 13-3 loss to the Dominican Republic Friday night, a game they led early before the D.R. lineup feasted on Nicaragua’s bullpen.
“The message today is hey, man, you’ve got to forget yesterday. It’s a brand new day,” Baker told the media. “That’s the beauty of baseball; every day is different. You can’t take yesterday if it was a negative into today, but if it’s a positive, you can build on that.”
There are plenty of positives. Despite the ending against the Netherlands, Nicaragua put together its most complete effort at the WBC to date, getting a solid five innings from 14-year Major League Baseball veteran Erasmo Ramirez, three hits from Ismael Munguia, and a hit and two runs from Indiana native Chase Dawson.
Ramirez, who is still looking for a contract for 2025, briefly faltered in the third, allowing a single to Druw Jones to lead off the bottom of the inning, then a one-out single to Cedanne Rafaela. After hitting Xander Bogaerts with a 1-1 changeup, he hit Ozzie Albies to force Jones across the plate and give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead. Ramirez escaped the jam after getting Didi Gregorius to pop out in foul territory and then fanning Hendrik Clementina to end the third.
In the top of the fifth, leadoff man Chase Dawson hit a 2-2 sinker from Kevin Kelly into the left field corner for a double. Jeter Downs followed with a high pop fly to shallow center. Charging the ball, Netherlands left fielder Ray-Patrick Didder dove but didn’t come up with the ball, and Downs got to second with a double. A walk to Ismael Munguia loaded the bases for Nicaragua with one out, and the Netherlands turned to Derek West to get out of the jam.
West fanned Mark Vientos on three straight sliders, but walked Cheslor Cuthbert on five pitches to send Dawson home and tie the game at one apiece.
Leaving the game after the fifth, Ramirez only allowed one hit, a fourth-inning single by Druw Jones in the fourth, tossing five innings and allowing a run on five hits, walking one and striking out two.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Nicaragua escaped a bases-loaded jam unscathed when Ray-Patrick Didder flew out to center to end the inning.
Nicaragua again threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases on infield singles from ismail Munguia, Cheslor Cuthbert, and Emanuel Trujillo, but couldn’t get another run home when Cristhian Sandoval grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Then came the eighth, and Chase Dawson was hit by a pitch with two outs, bringing up Downs, who’s father emigrated to Colombia from Nicaragua. Downs sent the 1-0 offering from Lars Huijer over the left field walk, sending the blue-clad Nicaragua fans into jubilation, giving them the kind of baseball moment the Central American country hadn’t seen since Granada, Nicaragua-native Dennis Martinez threw a perfect game for the Montreal Expos in 1991.
And then, an inning later, one out away, Ozzie Albies hit the first offering from Nicaragua’s Angel Obando into the seats, crushing the hopes of the fans in blue.
He knelt on the loanDepot park mound, hands on his head, long after Albies had touched the plate, ending the game. Benjamin Alegria, the hero of Nicaragua’s 2-1 win against Spain at the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifier, was the first to the mound to comfort Obando.
“He’s a guy that works hard all the time. His future is very bright. We’re not giving up on him at all. Anybody that’s played this game has been the hero and also been the guy to give it up,” Baker said of Obando. “Hopefully it’s a learning experience, and we learn from it. He threw the ball in an area where he didn’t want to throw it. And anytime you’re throwing a baseball, you can’t always throw the ball exactly where you want it.”
They’ll be back tomorrow night to face Israel at 7 p.m. at loanDepot Park. With the win, the Netherlands improved to 1-1, while Nicaragua fell to 0-2 and will need to win tomorrow night’s game to have a chance to avoid having to play in the next World Baseball Classic qualifier.
“It hurts for our team and it hurts for the whole country,” Baker said. “It’s a very difficult situation, but it’s a situation where you not only deal with the joys of winning, but you’ve also got to deal with the agonies of losing. It hurts, and it hurts a lot.”
Photo: The Netherlands team celebrates after Ozzie Albies hits a three-run home run during the ninth inning of a World Baseball Classic game against Nicaragua, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
