Italy continues its historic run and Venezuela knocks off the defending champion

Heading into the semi-finals, one team looks to reach its first championship game after defeating the defending champion, while another continues its unprecedented offensive run. 

Italy 8, Puerto Rico 6

To start the game, Puerto Rico threw their best starting pitcher at Italy, with former Cy Young runner-up Seth Luego taking the bump. He was given an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Willi Castro home run, though he immediately surrendered four runs and completed just one out before being removed from the game. 

Vinnie Pasquantino, Dominic Canzone, and Jac Caglianone all collected singles in the bottom of the first, plating three runs early, with J.J. D’Orazio bringing home the fourth run that would knock Lugo out of the game on a sacrifice fly. Italy had Sam Aldegheri on the mound and, after mowing through Brazil’s lineup in Pool play, looked to quiet an already depleted Puerto Rican lineup. 

He would load the bases in the second, being taken out of the game for Alek Jacob, who would immediately surrender a HBP to Martin Maldonado, making the score 4-2 for Italy. The game would stay quiet until the bottom of the fourth when the Italians would break out offensively, plating four more runs to take an 8-2 lead. 

With two outs, Pasquantino, Canzone, and Caglianone would all walk, setting up a run-scoring opportunity for Andrew Fischer. He would deliver, driving a double to right field, plating two, before D’Orazio would add a double of his own, to break open the game for Italy. 

Puerto Rico showed fight late in the game, bringing home four runs in the eighth inning, thanks to a wild pitch and a pinch-hit two-run single by Christian Vazquez, bringing the score to 8-6 heading into the bottom half of the eighth. Italy would hang on and, for the first time, would punch its ticket to Miami for the semi-finals. 

Dylan Delucia was otherworldly out of the Italian bullpen, tossing four innings of scoreless ball in middle relief, after Aldegheri’s short leash. Greg Weissert would collect five outs to close the game, officially cementing Italy’s biggest win in their country’s history. 

Venezuela 8, Japan 5

The culminating quarterfinal matchup saw the defending champion go against a fiery Venezuelan team, looking to reach the title game for the first time. A back-and-forth battle between two heavyweights provided the ultimate baseball atmosphere, setting up what should be an incredibly exciting semi-final showdown. 

Japan had its ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, though it took just two pitches for Ronald Acuna Jr. to take him yard, giving Venezuela an early 1-0 advantage. Ranger Suarez took the ball for Venezuela and, similarly to Yamamoto, surrendered a leadoff home run, this time to Shohei Ohtani. This marked the first instance in World Baseball Classic history that both teams’ leadoff hitters hit home runs to begin the game. This was only a sign of events that would soon follow…

Venezuela would jump on Yamamoto again in the second inning, with Ezequiel Tovar and Gleyber Torres both doubling, bringing the score to 2-1. Suarez found his rhythm in the bottom half of the inning, though this didn’t last as in the third, he would serve up a double to Teruaki Sato, scoring Sosuke Genda, before substitute Shota Morishita would launch a three-run home run, bringing Japan’s lead to 5-2. Morishita was brought into the game for Seiya Suzuki, who suffered a knee contusion sliding into second base earlier in the contest. 

From this point forward, Venezuela took complete control, with Maikel Garcia launching a two-run shot to left field off Chihiro Sumida, scoring Jackson Chourio, to cut Japan’s lead to one. Then in the sixth inning, new pitcher Hiromi Itoh would surrender a pair of singles to Tovar and Torres before Wilyer Abreu delivered the swing of the game, sending a ball to the second-deck in right field to give Venezuela a 7-5 lead they would not relinquish. 

An errant pick-off throw by Atsuki Taneichi would allow Tovar to score in the eighth inning after he led off with a double, bringing in Venezuela’s eighth and final run. Daniel Palencia was tasked with closing duties and shutting Japan down, officially securing the victory. 

The Venezuelan bullpen was simply too much for Japan to handle in this matchup, with Enmanuel De Jesus registering 2.1 innings of shutout ball, combining with the other five relievers used in the game, who all held Japan scoreless. 

Venezuela will now take on Italy in their semi-final matchup on Monday at 8 pm EST, with the pitching matchup yet to be determined. The winner of that game will go on to face the winner of the United States and the Dominican Republic, setting up an all-time World Baseball Classic championship final.

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