SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The Dominican Republic team goes into the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic by beating Venezuela during a game that was worthy of the two baseball powerhouses, and during which the pitching was much better than the offensive play.

Like many decisive games, this one was decided in an unexpected manner. With two outs in the seventh inning and a man on first, Plácido Polanco connected his third hit of the game and Tejada received four bad balls. With Pujols at bat, there was an evident exchange of signals between pitcher Kelvim Escobar and catcher Ramón Hernández, and the ball escaped the latter, a past ball that gave the winning run to the Dominicans.

In Anaheim, the super-fast Daisuke Matsuzaka notched up five zeros for Mexico’s team, while his teammates clobbered right-hander Esteban Loaiza, bringing in four runs in a single inning. The situation in this group is completely undetermined. Today, Japan (1-1) will play undefeated South Korea (2-0), and tomorrow the United States (1-1) will play Mexico (0-2).