MIAMI – Ronald Acuña Jr. wasted no time announcing his presence at the 2026 World Baseball Classic with authority.
Facing the Netherlands’ Antwone Kelly, Venezuela’s leadoff man lined the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first to the left center field gap for a stand-up double, drawing the heavily Venezuelan crowd at loanDepot Park to their feet. Two batters later, Auña scored on an infield single by Luis Arraez, giving Venezuela and early 1-0 lead.
After the Netherlands tied the game when Hendrik Clementina scored on a double by Druw Jones in the top of the second, Venezuela got the lead back in the bottom of the inning when Javier Sanoja launched a solo homer to left.
From there, Venezuela easily cruised to a 6-2 win in the opening game of Pool D of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, capitalizing on weak relief work by the Netherlands bullpen in the fifth inning, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring four runs.
With the win, Venezuela improves to 1-0, but the win against the Netherlands likely assures that the Vinotinos finish no lower than second in Pool D barring a major upset loss to Israel Saturday night or Nicaragua on March 9. Nicaragua went winless in pool play at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, while Israel’s only win came against Nicaragua.
Jaydenn Estantista came on for the Netherlands and hit Venezuela’s Andres Gimenez to start the inning, then walked Acuna, allowed a single to Maile Garcia that loaded the bases, and then walked Arraez to give Venezuela a 3-1 lead. The walk to Arraez got manager Andruw Jones out of the dugout to lift Estantisa, but his replacement, Eric Mendez, also struggled, allowing a two-run single to Wilson Contreras and an RBI single to Willyer Abreu that gave Venezuela a 6-1 lead.
The Netherlands added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Druw Jones. The son of newly-elected Baseball Hall of Famer and Netherlands manager Andruw Jones drove in both of the Netherlands’ runs in the game.
“It’s an honor to be able to play for the Kingdom and to be able to come out here and play my game at one of the highest stages,” the younger Jones said before the game, noting that there aren’t big expectations the team needs to live up to. “We’re going to go out there and win ballgames. No expectation, but we’re going to do all the little things right and do all we can to win.”