Venezuela's Cabrera, Lopez break through against Dutch pitching

Miguel Cabrera's homer helped Venezuela advance to the winner's side of the bracket. Doug Benc/Getty Images

MIAMI (AP) -- Miguel Cabrera and Jose Lopez each had solo home runs to power Venezuela to a 3-1 win over the Netherlands in the second round of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday.

In his first game back at Dolphin Stadium, Cabrera reached back to his Florida Marlins' days with a line drive over the left-center field wall in the fourth that gave Venezuela the lead for good. Cabrera took his familiar slow walk down the first-base line, watching his ball sail over the scoreboard and sending fans of the red, yellow and blue into a flag-waving frenzy.

"It was very special to come back to Miami, my old home," Cabrera said. "I'm glad I got a home run and helped our team win the game."

Carlos Silva allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, and Lopez's homer in the eighth gave Venezuela all the cushion it needed.

Venezuela will play Puerto Rico on Monday for a chance to clinch a spot in the finals in Los Angeles. The Netherlands will play the United States in an elimination game Sunday.

The Netherlands was fueled again by strong pitching and defense and forced its opponent to make plays. It was that formula that helped the Netherlands advance to the second round by ousting the star-studded Dominican Republic with a pair of stunning upsets.

But the Dutch wasted plenty of opportunities against Venezuela.

After putting runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, the Netherlands went cold. Eugene Kingsdale popped out, and closer Francisco Rodriguez came in to get Adriana Sharnol to ground out to end the inning -- and any hopes of another Netherlands upset.

Yurendell DeCaster tried to score from first on a double by Bryan Engelhardt in the second inning but misread the ball, getting off to a slow start, and was thrown out at home by Cesar Izturis. Vince Rooi singled on the next pitch to tie it at 1.

"We were just trying to be aggressive," Netherlands manager Rod Delmonico said. "Sometimes that happens in baseball. Probably if we had to do it over again he wouldn't send him."

The Dutch also wasted a strong pitching effort by Sidney Ponson, who allowed only two runs and two hits in five innings against a potent Venezuela.

"I'm kind of (ticked) off because I made two bad mistakes and it cost us some runs," Ponson said.

And it was the power -- or lack thereof -- that was the difference. Venezuela had only three hits -- two homers and a triple -- and the Netherlands' only extra-base hit was a double.

Cabrera's second homer of the tournament got the lead back for Venezuela in the fourth. He played five seasons for the Marlins, helping them win the 2003 World Series over the New York Yankees, before being traded to Detroit in December 2007.

Cabrera and Venezuela had a slew of supporters in this one.

The stadium's orange seats looked perfectly made for Dutch fans, though the few hundred in attendance were easily drowned out. The gate attendance of 17,345 were mostly flag-waving, drum-beating, horn-blaring Venezuelans who provided energy rarely seen at afternoon baseball games at Dolphin Stadium, also home to the Marlins.

And they got started early when Endy Chavez led off the game with a triple into right-center field. He scored a batter later on Melvin Mora's groundout.

Perhaps the only one who didn't have a good homecoming was Magglio Ordonez.

The strong contingency of Venezuelan fans booed their own left fielder each time his name was announced. Ordonez is a supporter of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, and most Venezuelans in South Florida despise Chavez and his socialist beliefs.

"I don't worry about things like that," Ordonez said. "Politics and baseball don't mix."

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