Vladimir Guerrero Jr. brought the jacket. Junior Caminero supplied the trot.
And collectively, the Dominican Republic served notice it will be an irrepressible, sartorially smashing presence in the World Baseball Classic.
Given an early scare by Dusty Baker’s heavy underdog Nicaragua squad, the Dominicans charged up loanDepot Park in Miami when Caminero put a charge into a Stiven Cruz changeup – it came off his bat at 111.6 mph – and broke open a tie game with a two-run, sixth-inning home run.
And in what seemed like a blink, a 3-3 nailbiter became a 12-3 Dominican Republic Pool D party.
Well, maybe it wasn’t a blink. Caminero’s trip around the bases took plenty of time. But oh, what a journey it was.
As his line drive cleared the fence just to the right of dead center field, the highly partisan crowd of 35,127 roared. Still sprinting before he knew it was gone, Caminero, chain flapping, lost his helmet as he reached second base. And then he soaked up every last roar from the crowd before greeting third base coach Carlos Febles.
And finally, he meandered down the third base line before unleashing an epic handshake/dance move with veteran Manny Machado.
After all that, it was time to greet the receiving line. The giddy D.R. populated the apron outside their third base dugout, relief palpable and joy unbridled. And there was Guerrero, reprising the home run jacket he helped popularize in the Toronto Blue Jays dugout.
This one, blinged out quite nicely, celebrated not La Gente Del Barrio but rather the members of the Dominican squad, from Niño to Soto to J-Rod to La Tormenta – the perfect storm of a nickname, if you will.
The jacket suddenly was in high demand: Julio Rodríguez and Oneil Cruz crushed home runs two innings later, Cruz’s a three-run shot that made it a laugher.
Not a bad outcome for a club that faced 1-0 and 3-1 deficits early on, with Nicaragua chasing ace Cristopher Sanchez after he recorded just four outs.
Yet this lineup is both devastating and undaunted. Few epitomize that quite so well as Caminero, who as a Tampa Bay Ray hammered 45 home runs as a 21-year-old last year. His prelude to that season: An epic 454-foot home run and a trip around the bases to match as he lifted Licey to the Dominican’s winter ball championship.
Some raised eyebrows greeted Caminero when he reported for big league camp. Yet 45 home runs later, he showed he’s certainly earned the right to pimp it a little bit.
And in his World Baseball Classic debut, he showed the Dominicans will be hard to handle – and even harder to miss.
