After yesterday’s quarterfinals, which featured a blowout and something much closer but not exactly thrilling, the WBC delivered drama in spades on Saturday.
Italy 8, Puerto Rico 6. In something that happened three times on Saturday, Willi Castro connected for a leadoff homer off Sam Aldegheri on the fourth pitch of the game. That lead didn’t last long, however, as Seth Lugo struggled on the mound from the get-go. He walked two of the first three Italian batters, and then a couple of soft singles
through the infield turned things around into a 2-1 game. A harder single by Jac Caglianone made it 3-1, and Italy then collected another walk and a sac fly against new hurler Jovani Moran.
Aldegheri walked the bases loaded in the second and was replaced by Alek Jacob, who promptly plunked Puerto Rico captain Martin Maldonado to make it a two-run game, but then got out of it with a strikeout and a groundout. Moran and Eduardo Rivera escaped trouble of their own in the bottom of the inning, with Rivera striking out Caglianone with the bases loaded. Rivera left after consecutive two-out walks in the fourth, and then Italy reeled off an unholy rally against Luis Quinones, with a walk, a ground-rule-double-because-a-fan-reached-over-the-railing-to-catch-it, and then a more traditional ground rule double blooped far down the right-field line. Italy led 8-2 after all those walks and doubles.
Then things got quiet, with Puerto Rico squandering a good chance to get into it against Dan Altavilla in the seventh by wasting a two out, none on situation. Instead, they got into it the next frame against Matt Festa, with single-walk-walk to start the frame. That chased Festa and brought in Joe La Sorsa, but an RBI groundout, a hit batter, and a wild pitch made it 8-4, and then Christian Vazquez hit it hard through the infield to pull it back within two runs. So, Team Italy brought in presumptive closer Greg Weissert, who restored order, striking out Castro and later getting Nolan Arenado to softly ground out. After Edwin Diaz had an uncharacteristically wonky ninth (hit by pitch and walk) but nonetheless kept it to within two, it was Puerto Rico’s last chance, with Weissert still pitching.
Carlos Cortes made things more interesting with a leadoff single. Weissert then got a strikeout and Heliot Ramos hit a routine flyout, meaning it all rested on the shoulders of Eddie Rosario. After falling behind 2-0, Weissert missed with a fastball that ended up right down the middle… but Rosario didn’t really do anything with it, flying out to left to end the game. A bit more oomph and maybe Puerto Rico survives, but no dice. Italy moves on to the semis.
Venezuela 8, Japan 5. This is probably the kind of game the WBC organizers were envisioning when they dreamed up this tournament. What a barnburner.
Ronald Acuña Jr. started things off in electrifying fashion by raking an opposite-field leadoff homer against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But, a few pitches into the bottom of the first, Shohei Ohtani returned the favor off Ranger Suarez. Later in the inning, Seiya Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal second and had to leave the game due to injury.
Ezequiel Tovar, who apparently owns Yamamoto for some reason, led off the second with a double, and then Venezuela pulled ahead when Gleyber Torres barely missed a homer and ended up doubling Tovar home. The inning ended on a didn’t-mean-to-swing from Acuña that dribbled out to the second baseman. Suarez struck out two in the bottom of the second, and Venezuela squandered a leadoff double in the third. Suarez then wobbled in the bottom of the third, with a leadoff walk and an intentional walk to Ohtani, which then all came to roost when Teruaki Soto doubled down the right-field line to tie the game, and Suzuki’s replacement, Shota Morishita, yanked a three-run go-ahead homer into the left-field corner. It probably isn’t really any consolation for Suarez that the pitches both Soto and Morishita hit were basically perfect pitcher’s pitches that they nonetheless creamed.
The teams traded zeroes in the fourth, but Venezuela jumped on Chihiro Sumida after he replaced Yamamoto to start the fifth, with Jackson Chourio drawing a leadoff walk and Maikel Garcia depositing a baseball deep into the left field stands to make it a one-run game. Meanwhile, Enmanuel de Jesus was restoring order for Venezuela on the mound.
The big blow for Venezuela came against Hiromi Itoh in the sixth. Tovar dunked one for a leadoff single, and Torres rolled one through the infield. Up came Wilyer Abreu, Itoh tried to sneak a 91 mph fastball by him at the top of zone, and nope. Kablamo. Abreu didn’t miss it and instead crushed a second-deck shot over 400 feet for a three-run go-ahead dinger. (Later in this inning, Acuña got absolutely screwed on a not-even-that borderline strike three call.)
At this point, the game was basically over, as de Jesus, Jose Butto, Andres Machado, and Daniel Palencia, along with the Venezuelan gloves, stymied Japan the rest of the way. Those five games combined for an 8/1 K/BB ratio in six innings, and after Venezuela took the lead on Abreu’s homer, Japan’s only baserunners came on a couple of two-out singles in the eighth against Machado — but Shugo Maki grounded out. On the flip side, Venezuela added an eighth run when Tovar doubled, stole third, and scored on a poor throw down. Daniel Palencia made short work of Japan in the end, blowing away Sosuke Genda for the first out, clipping an edge against Kensuke Kondoh for the second, and then getting Ohtani to pop out on a down-the-middle fastball to end the game, eliminate Japan, and send Venezuela to an Olive Garden date on Monday night.
Acuña went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts and the leadoff homer. In one of his strikeouts, he just got beat on a high fastball after getting five pitches in a row below the zone. Then, there was that horrible 0-2 call, and he was carved up by Yusei Kikuchi in the ninth without seeing a fastball. Ah well, I’m sure he doesn’t mind given the exciting game and victory for his team — plus, you can see him hopping over the railing and jumping around repeatedly as his teammates walloped the ball. Fun stuff.
The U.S.-D.R. heavyweight match is on tap for Sunday night.
