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.

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 the winner of Saturday night’s game between the United States and Puerto Rico on Monday for a chance to clinch a spot in the finals in Los Angeles. The Netherlands will play the loser in an elimination game Sunday.

The Netherlands were 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 of the WBC by ousting the star-studded Dominican Republic with a pair of stunning upsets, including a 3-2, 11-inning elimination game win.

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.

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

And it was the power – or lack thereof – that was the difference. Venezuela only had 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 Florida Marlins, helping them win the 2003 World Series over the New York Yankees, before being traded to Detroit ahead of the 2007 season.

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.

Notes: There were dozens of Dominican Republic fans in attendance sporting their country’s flag. The Dominicans, which have a large South Florida following, were expected to contend in Miami but were eliminated by the Netherlands in the first round in Puerto Rico. … The public address system was announced in English then Spanish.