The United States stayed on track to defend its World Baseball Classic championship with a 14-2 semifinal win Sunday over Cuba.
Trea Turner, whose grand slam Saturday brought the Americans from behind in their thrilling quarterfinal win against Venezuela, homered twice and equaled teammate Paul Goldschmidt's four RBIs at loanDepot park.
Cuba, the visiting team, got off to an auspicious start in the first inning, loading the bases with no outs on three weakly hit ground balls and scoring first on a walk by former SoftBank Hawk Alfredo Despaigne, but would not score again until the United States had crossed the plate seven times.
Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first and the United States scored in each of the first six innings, while former Yomiuri Giant Miles Mikolas allowed a run over four innings of relief for the Americans.
The victory put the United States into Tuesday's final against the winner of Monday's semifinal between two-time champion Japan and Mexico.
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