Alcantara was the unanimous selection for the Cy Young last year with a league high innings (228) and complete games (6) with a sparkling 2.28 ERA.
However California's Garrit Cole basically matched him with 8 innings of one hit ball, though his no hitter ended in the second inning on a Sammy Sosa double.
That left a scoreless tie after nine innings. Bobby Bonds was inserted for Alan Trammell as the runner on 2nd base to start the top of the 10th against Armando Benitez, as Alcantara would have been reduced to a PB 2-6 if he came back out for the 10th inning.
Bobby Bonds used his A speed to steal third base, and his son Barry Bonds singled him home to finally break the scoreless tie. Barry also stole second base, and with two outs raced around on a Joe DiMaggio single, but Vladimir Guerrero (father of the current superstar with the same name) threw him out at home to end the top of the 10th with a 1-0 California lead.
The Dominican Republic then also went to their bench for a pinch runner, bringing in one of the rare AA speed runners in history - Cesar Cedeno. Cedeno tried to take third, but in a key to the game Gary Carter threw him out. If we played 2023 rules where our stolen base charts are adjusted for the bases being larger and closer together he would not have been out (odd numbers can no longer be caught stealing in our 2023 games to replicate the stolen base success rate jumping from 65% to 82% since the rule change). Trevor Hoffman retired the next two for the save, and to make Dennis Eckersley the win.
With the win, California improves to 4-1 and advances to the championship pool along with Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic won our previous Statis-Pro World Baseball Classic of current players, but in this tournament of the all-time players for all of MLB and Negro League history had only two pre 1980s players (Felipe Alou and Juan Marichal). Meanwhile California drew on players going back to Frank Chance, whose career started in 1898.
| California Line-up | Pos | AB | R | H | BI | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Trammell | 6-SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bobby Bonds | PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | SB, GW R in 10th | |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 6-SS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | Joe Gordon | 4-2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | BB |
| 3 | Barry Bonds | 7-OF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | GW RBI, SB |
| 4 | Ted Williams | 7-OF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | Joe DiMaggio | 7-OF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 6 | Eddie Murray | 3-1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Gary Carter | 2-C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10th caught stealing |
| 8 | Graig Nettles | 5-3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | Gerrit Cole | 1-P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tony Gwynn | PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Frank Chance | PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CS | |
| Th | California Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | W/K | Notes |
| RHP | Gerrit Cole | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1`/7 | |
| RHP | Dennis Eckersley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0`/0 | Win |
| RHP | Trevor Hoffman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0`/1 | Save |
| 0 | Dominican Rep. Line-up | Pos | AB | R | H | BI | Notes |
| 1 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | 6-SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | Jose Ramirez | 5-3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cesar Cedeno | PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Caught Steal | |
| 3 | Vladimir Guerrero | 7-OF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | OF assist in 10th |
| 4 | Manny Ramirez | 7-OF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | Sammy Sosa | 7-OF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | double, only EB Hit |
| 6 | David Ortiz | 3-1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Robinson Canó | 4-2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | walk |
| 8 | Tony Pena | 2-C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | Sandy Alcantara | 1-P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Felipe Alou | 7-OF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Th | Dominican Republic Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | W/K | Notes |
| RHP | Sandy Alcantara | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1'/2 | |
| RHP | Armando Benitez | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0`/0 | Loss |
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