For the first time in the history of the World Baseball Classic, Japan will not be in the semifinals. They were outscored by Venezuela 8-5 on Saturday night at Loan Depot Park in Miami. Venezuela is in the WBC semifinals for the first time since 2009, and with the victory secured a spot for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Maikel García hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and Wilyer Abreu hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth to give Venezuela the lead for good. Of the game’s 17 total hits, 10 went for extra bases, including five home runs.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled early, needing 57 pitches to get his first nine outs. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit the second pitch of the night for a leadoff home run, but Shohei Ohtani answered the call in the bottom of the frame with his own leadoff home run.
Sarah Langs of MLB.com noted that no major league game has featured two former league MVPs each with a leadoff home run, making this WBC quarterfinal a rarity.
Venezuela hit consecutive doubles for another run in the second inning, driven in by Ezequiel Tovar, who at this point has Yamamoto’s number. The Rockies shortstop has eight hits in 12 at-bats against Yamamoto, with two home runs and two doubles. But fortunately for Yamamoto, one of those outs was a strikeout to end the third inning, when Venezuela stranded a leadoff double.
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With three doubles and a home run on Saturday, Yamamoto allowed four extra-base hits in a start for just the second time in 60 starts since joining the Dodgers before the 2024 season. The other time came on June 13 against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.
But after Japan scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning, including a three-run homer by Shota Morishita for a 5-2 lead, Yamamoto stayed in and pitched a perfect fourth inning, retiring the last six batters he faced. Yamamoto allowed those first two runs but nothing else in his four innings, striking out five and walking one in his 69-pitch effort.
Japan did not score after the third inning, at one point going hitless through 13 consecutive at-bats by Emmanuel De Jesus, José Buttó, Angel Zerpa and Andrés Machado, including two strikeouts by Ohtani. Those were the only times Ohtani struck out in five games in this tournament. In total, he had six hits, including three home runs and a double, in 12 at-bats plus five walks, three of them intentional, hitting .500/.647/1.333 with six runs scored and seven RBIs.
Japan reached the semifinal round in the first five World Baseball Classics, including tournament victories in 2006, 2009 and 2023.
Previously, in Saturday’s quarterfinals in Houston, Italy remained undefeated, this time holding on to beat Puerto Rico 8-6.
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Edwin Díaz hit one batter, walked another and threw a wild pitch, but pitched a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts. In three appearances during the WBC, the Dodgers right-hander pitched three scoreless innings with one hit, one walk, one hit and allowed two steals, but also struck out seven of his 12 batters faced.
Catcher Will Smith is the only Dodgers player still active in the World Baseball Classic.
Remaining WBC schedule
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Sunday Semifinal: USA vs. Dominican Republic, 5 pm PT (FS1)
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Monday semi-final: Italy vs. Venezuela, 5 p.m. (FS1)
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Tuesday championship game, 5 p.m. (Fox)