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It wasn’t flashy or spine-tingling and goodness, not a single ball was hit over the fence until the very end. Yet the Dominican Republic is on to the World Baseball Classic semifinals anyway, thanks to a dismantling of Korea that was downright surgical.

Two big innings keyed by aggressive baserunning, Cristopher Sánchez’s five shutout innings and Austin Wells’ pinch-hit three-run walk-off home run were more than enough for the Dominicans in a 10-0, seven-inning victory at Miami’s loanDepot Park.

Up next: A dream matchup against Team USA on Sunday, March 15.

The Dominican has reached the WBC semifinals for the first time since losing to Team USA in 2017, the lone tourney the Americans have won. This time, they bring a power-packed lineup that might be the most potent collection of hitters assembled in this tourney. They crushed 13 home runs – tops in the WBC – and posted a 1.130 OPS in four pool-play games.

Yet it was the legs of two of them – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto – that keyed the quarterfinal victory.

Both scored from first base on doubles and capped their efforts with impressive slides – Guerrero headfirst after Junior Caminero’s double and Soto ducking around Korea’s catcher on Guerrero’s two-bagger – in the third and fourth innings. The 7-0 lead held until the seventh.

That’s when Wells, the New York Yankees catcher inserted as a defensive replacement, jumped on the first pitch he saw on this night and drove it off the facade of the second deck in right field.

Game over. Team USA, after vanquishing Canada and with ace Paul Skenes locked and loaded, on deck.

USA TODAY Sports provided live updates of the Korea-Dominican Republic quarterfinal:

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With its onerous pitch limits, preseason timing and rigorous schedule, the World Baseball Classic is typically no place for starting pitchers. Yet Cristopher Sánchez’s outing against Korea in the quarterfinals would have played in any month of the year.

Sánchez struck out eight in five innings, all his outs coming on strikeouts and groundouts, as he handed the Dominican Republic a 7-0 lead into the sixth inning.

Sánchez, expected to be the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace as Zack Wheeler returns from thoracic outlet surgery, gave up just two hits and a walk and got whiffs on 18 of 31 swings, a sterling 58% rate. He was relieved by Albert Abreu to begin the top of the sixth.

Korea manager Ji-Hyun Ryu managed the bottom of the third inning as if his team’s World Baseball Classic hopes were fading away.

By the end of the inning, that’s exactly what happened.

Ryu deployed four pitchers to try and suppress the dominant Dominican Republic lineup, but by inning’s end, Korean pitchers issued three walks, two with the bases loaded to drive in runs, as the Dominicans took a 7-0 lead into the fourth inning.

The Dominicans sent 10 men to the plate, Juan Soto starting it with a single (and later scoring on an amazing slide) and ending it with a flyout. In between, Kyung-Eun Noh, Yeong Hyun Park, Been Gwak and Dane Dunning tried to stem the tide. Only Dunning, the veteran right-hander now with the Seattle Mariners, succeeded, retiring Soto with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Carlos Febles is 2-for-2 – even if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto need oxygen by the end of the night.

The Dominican Republic’s third-base coach followed up his aggressive send of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the second inning with a nearly identical green light for Juan Soto as the star slugger tried to score from first on a double by Guerrero in the third.

And this time, Korean catcher Dong Won Park had the relay throw even earlier. Yet Soto, with on-deck hitter Manny Machado directing him behind home plate, slid around Park’s tag, another astounding slide that left Park dumbfounded.

The safe call was upheld on review and, just like the previous play, Guerrero was able to take third on the throw and score on Machado’s RBI single. That came off Korean closer Yeong Hyun Park, already into the game in the third.

Yes, the Koreans might be getting desperate trailing 5-0. Can you blame them?

Cristopher Sánchez is absolutely pitching like the Dominican Republic’s ace.

He’s held Korea hitless through three innings of their WBC quarterfinal in Miami, getting swings and misses on all the changeups and sliders he’s thrown and allowing only a two-out walk in the third to Korea catcher Dong Won Park.

Sánchez can throw up to 80 pitches in this quarterfinal round; he needed just 40 to navigate the first three innings and could carry the Dominican Republic into the middle innings.

And to think we thought no trip around the bases could as exciting as the Dominican Republic’s deliberate, elaborate home-run trots. Give us Vladimir Guerrero flying through the air headfirst at the plate any day.

Guerrero motored from first all the way home on a double into the left field corner by Junior Caminero with one out in the top of the second inning. He looked dead to rights, but the relay throw pulled Korean catcher Dong Won Park into foul ground. Guerrero took the high road, sliding headfirst and tapping the upper right-hand corner of home plate to score the run.

The aggression actually resulted in two runs: Caminero was able to advance to third on the play and scored on a contact play when Julio Rodriguez’s groundout against a drawn-in infield was snared by a diving shortstop Ju Won Kim. An Agustín Ramirez walk and Geraldo Perdomo single re-started the rally, and Fernando Tatis Jr. finished off Korean starter Hyun Jin Ryu with an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

This time around, Cristopher Sánchez had a clean, quiet first inning. Alas, so too did the powerful lineup on his side.

Korea and the Dominican Republic each posted zeroes in the first inning, as Sánchez bounced back from a sluggish four-out, three-run performance in his first WBC start against Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, 2019 NL Cy Young Award runner-up Hyun Jin Ryu cruised right through Fernando Tatis Jr., Ketel Marte and Juan Soto in the bottom of the inning, freezing Tatis on a nasty 70-mph curveball for a strikeout.

How to watch Dominican Republic vs KoreaTime: 6:30 p.m. ETTV channel: Fox Sports 2Live stream: Fubo

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Dominican Republic lineup today

Starting pitcher: LHP Cristopher Sanchez

Fernando Tatis Jr. – RFKetel Marte – 2BJuan Soto – RFVladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1BManny Machado – 3BJunior Caminero – 3BJulio Rodríguez – CFAgustín Ramírez – CGeraldo Perdomo – SS

Starting pitcher: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu

3B Do Yeong KimLF Jahmai JonesCF Jung Hoo LeeRF Hyun Min AnhDH Bo Gyeong Moon1B Shay Whitcomb2B Hyeseong KimC Dong Wun ParkSS Ju Won KimAlbert Pujols defends DR celebrations

Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols said he has no issue with his team – and everyone else in the WBC – going above and beyond with celebrations in teh tournament

“In the regular season I don’t think you’re going to see anything like what we’re doing here, but I think everybody understands it, you know? And I don’t have any problem with that, and I’m sure other people don’t have any problem.

“I mean, everybody’s celebrating. You watch Puerto Rico, you watch Mexico, even Italy, U.S., everybody’s got something going on.

Do we do it more than others? Yes. Does it mean that we care more? No. That’s our culture and that’s who we are. We don’t want to change who we are just because of this tournament.”

InfieldersVladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B)Manny Machado (3B)Ketel Marte (2B)Geraldo Perdomo (SS)Erik González (SS/UTL) — Injury replacement for Jeremy PeñaJunior Caminero (3B/DH)Carlos Santana (1B)Amed Rosario (UTL)OutfieldersJuan Soto (LF/RF)Julio Rodríguez (CF)Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF)Oneil Cruz (CF/UTL)Johan Rojas (CF)PitchersSandy Alcántara (RHP)Cristopher Sánchez (LHP)Luis Severino (RHP)Brayan Bello (RHP)Carlos Estévez (RHP)Camilo Doval (RHP)Abner Uribe (RHP)Seranthony Domínguez (RHP)Gregory Soto (LHP)Wandy Peralta (LHP)Albert Abreu (RHP)Elvis Alvarado (RHP)Huascar Brazobán (RHP)Dennis Santana (RHP)Edwin Uceta (RHP)CatchersAustin WellsAgustín Ramírez

Pitchers: Young-pyo Ko, Byeong-hyeon Jo, Young-kyu Kim, Woo-suk Go, Ju-young Son, Hyeong-jun So, Dane Dunning, Kyung-eun Noh, Been Gwak, Young-chan You, Yeong-hyeon Park, Woojoo Jeong, Kim Taek-yeon, Seung-ki Song, Hyun-jin Ryu, Riley O’Brien, Tae-in Won

Infielders: Kim Do-yeong, Kim Ju-won, Roh Si-hwan, Shay Whitcomb, Bo-gyeong Moon, Hye-seong Kim, Min-jae Shin

Outfielders: Jung-hoo Lee, Ahn Hyun-min, Moon Hyun-bin, Koo Ja-wook, Jahmai Jones, Park Hae-min

Catchers: Hyung-jun Kim, Dong-won Park