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March 16, 2017

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Japan reaches championship round at WBC

YOSHITOMO Tsutsugo sparked a five-run sixth inning with a solo home run to lead Japan over Israel 8-3 last night and into the championship round of the World Baseball Classic.

With a perfect 6-0 record through the first two rounds, two-time champion Japan advances from Pool E along with the Netherlands, which beat Cuba 14-1 at Tokyo Dome. Israel and Cuba were eliminated.

Tsutsugo connected off Israel reliever Dylan Axelrod with a blast to deep center field. Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled in a run to make it 2-0 and Seiji Kobayashi, Nori Aoki and Ryosuke Kikuchi all added RBI hits to widen the lead. “Our pitchers were doing a great job so I wanted to do something to contribute in that situation,” Tsutsugo said.

Seiichi Uchikawa hit a double down the third base line to drive in two more runs in the eighth and Matsuda singled in the final run to complete the rout.

Israel won its first four games of the tournament but could not match the more experienced baseball powers like Japan in the second round.

In yesterday’s first game, former major leaguer Wladimir Balentien homered twice for the Netherlands.

Balentien, who plays in Japan for the Yakult Swallows, hit a three-run homer in the first inning and added a solo blast in the third as the Netherlands jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

Yurendell Decaster drove in two runs on a single to right in the fourth when the Netherlands scored five more runs to put the game out of reach.

The March 20-22 championship round will be held at Dodger Stadium.

In San Diego, the Dominican Republic suffered its first WBC defeat in eight years on Tuesday after being downed 3-1 by Puerto Rico in their opening second-round game.

The defending champion, which became the only team in history to go through the tournament unbeaten en route to the 2013 crown, was undone by Puerto Rico’s deep bullpen and a superb display by veteran catcher Yadier Molina.

Molina hit a homer, drove two more runs and captured a baserunner at a key stage late in the Pool F opener.

The Puerto Rico win ended an 11-game winning streak in the competition for the Dominican Republic.




 

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