Puerto Rico walk-off against Panama
Following a seventh-inning rain delay down in San Juan, it looked like Panama would hold on to their 2-1 lead in what would be an upset over Puerto Rico in front of their own home crowd.
After having just one hit heading into the fifth inning, Panama finally got the bats going.
Jonathan Arauz was hit by a pitch with one out before Christian Bethancourt brought him home with his first double of the 2026 WBC, but advanced to third on a throwing error by Puerto Rico.
In the very next at-bat, Luis Castillo would bring home Bethancourt on a double of his own to go up 2-0.
After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, Puerto Rico finally got on board with a sac-fly from Nolan Arenado to make it 2-1. Panama starting pitcher Ariel Jurado tossed five shutout innings, giving up just three hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
However, Puerto Rico rallied in the bottom of the ninth.
After walking the bases loaded, Panama's Alberto Baldonado would walk Willi Castro to bring in the tying run before Severino Gonzalez got the final out on his first pitch in relief to send it to extras.
Panama's Luis Castillo started extras with a sacrifice bunt that moved Bethancourt over to second base to put him in scoring position with one out.
Jose Caballero would prove clutch and bring him home on an RBI single to take the 3-2 lead in the 10th inning.
Then... It was Puerto Rico with the walk-off as they won 4-3 and improved to 2-0.
Darell Hernaiz launched one to deep left field to give Puerto Rico the walk-off win in extras off pitcher Severino Gonzalez, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. He finished the game going 2-for-5 at the plate.
There have been two walk-off home runs in WBC history - both happened today, with the first from Ozzie Albies of the Netherlands.
Puerto Rico's next game will be against Cuba (1-0) on March 9th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Panama's next game will be against Canada (1-0) on March 8th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Venezuela defeat Israel
Israel (0-1) didn't get a hit until the fifth inning as Venezuela (2-0) starting pitcher Enmanuel De Jesus struckout eight through five innings of work, allowing just one run with one hit and no walks en route to their 11-3 win.
Venezuela scored four of their five runs in the first inning alone, which was topped off with a two-run home run from Eugenio Suarez
Venezuela's Maikel Garcia extended his team's lead with a two-run single to put his team up 7-2. He would finish the game going 1-for-4 at the plate.
Then, probably the hottest hitter of the entire WBC through the first two games, Luis Arraez unloaded for his second home run of the game that put Venezuela up 10-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Arraez would go on to continue his onslaught as he finished the game going 4-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, two doubles, five RBI, and four runs.
Israel's RJ Schreck and Harrison Bader both finished the game 1-for-4 with a home run each. Their next game will be against Nicaragua, who are now 0-2 after giving up the first walk-off home run in WBC history, on March 8th at 7:00 p.m.
Venezuela finished the game with 14 hits. Seven of their nine hitters had at least one hit, while four of them had at least two or more hits. Their third game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic will also be against Nicaragua on March 9th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.