The victory moved the Dominicans to 2-1 in the second-round Caribbean group and into a Saturday semi-final against the winner of Wednesday's game between host Puerto Rico and reigning Olympic champion Cuba.

Japan, South Korea and the United States remain in contention for berths in the other semi-final in San Diego, California, where the final will be played Monday.

In the decisive seventh inning, Dominican standout Castillo singled, stole second base and reached third on a single by Placido Polanco, who had scored the first run of the game off a first-inning single by Moises Alou.

With Castillo on third base and slugger Albert Pujols batting, Venezuela catcher Ramon Hernandez muffed a throw from relief pitcher Kelvim Escobar and Castillo raced home with the winning run.

Dominican starter Daniel Cabrera struck out seven in four no-hit innings and combined with three relief pitchers to allow only one hit, an Omar Vizquel double that helped Venezuela push across the tying run in the sixth inning.

Venezuela equalized on Bobby Abreu's ground out to score Juan Rivera, who had reached third base on Vizquel's double.