Cuba defeated the Dominican Republic 3-1 on Saturday to reach the championship game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
Cuba, champion of the 2005 World Cup, 2004 Olympics and 2003 Pan American Games played in Santo Domingo, will play Japan in the championship of the 16-team Classic tonight at Petco Park.
Japan beat South Korea 6-0 in the second game of the semifinals doubleheader.
PHOTO: AFP
Koji Uehara pitched seven shutout innings for Japan while South Korea's Kim Byung-hyun gave up another big home run on Saturday night, a two-run shot by pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome in the seventh inning that broke a scoreless tie and sent Japan to victory.
Osmani Urrutia hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, and Yadel Marti capped his sensational tournament by combining with Pedro Lazo on an eight-hitter for Cuba.
Cuba, wearing its lucky red uniforms for only the second time in the tournament, avenged a 7-3 loss to the Dominicans from five days earlier and moved within one victory of adding another title to the country's long list of baseball accomplishments.
Chants of "Cuba! Cuba!" began in the late innings from the crowd of 41,268 for a squad with no major leaguers. The Cubans sprinted onto the field to celebrate when Lazo struck out pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano to end it.
After hugs and high-fives, the Cubans acknowledged their fans by waving their caps.
American League Cy Young pitching award winner Bartolo Colon pitched six shutout innings for the Dominican Republic, eliminated despite an All-Star roster that also included Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Tejada and David Ortiz.
Shouting "Long Live Cuba!" and forming conga lines, Cuban baseball fans rushed into the streets to celebrate their team's victory over the Dominican Republic.
Some ecstatic fans waved red, white and blue Cuban flags. Others beat pots and pans while dancing the conga outside their homes after their national team earned a spot in the final.
Huge roars of delight echoed into the streets from bars where people watched the game on state television, which carried the ESPN signal live across the island of 11.2 million.
The few cars still on the streets when the game ended honked their horns, and Cuban flags fluttered out of the windows of a few.
"The gold's coming here!" fan Fernando Luis shouted out into the street after watching the game on a TV set up on an apartment terrace.
"I am so emotional," Ines Padilla, mother of Cuban center fielder Carlos Tabares, said after watching the game at the family's Havana home. "I bless my son and I tell you that his late father is with him."
Many of Cuba's other well-known athletes were celebrating as well.
"Yes, I do think we will win the Classic," said retired high jumper Javier Sotomayor, a world record holder and Olympic champion. "But it will be harder for them now because they will be more relaxed and have tremendous confidence."
Yoandry Garlobo had three hits, and Alexei Ramirez and Frederich Cepeda each drove in runs in their team's decisive seventh inning that featured several mistakes by the Dominicans right after they took a 1-0 lead in the sixth on an unearned run.
The Cubans had to wait until the Dominicans went to their bullpen following six shutout innings by reigning Colon to get anything going offensively.
The Dominicans got a break in the sixth when Cuban second baseman Yulieski Gourriel failed to cleanly field a routine grounder by Beltre, then rushed the throw to first and the ball sailed over Ariel Borrero. Tejada scored on the misplay for a 1-0 lead.
Gourriel opened the seventh with an infield single off loser Odalis Perez, and third baseman Beltre made a costly mistake when his throw to first was in the dirt, allowing Gourriel to reach second. Pinch-hitter Eriel Sanchez followed with a dribbler down the third-base line for another infield single that advanced Gourriel.
Cepeda followed with an RBI groundout to tie the game, and Urrutia's single up the middle on the first pitch from reliever Salomon Torres gave Cuba a 2-1 lead. Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly three batters later.
Marti pitched 4 1-3 shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to 12 2-3 innings in the tournament. He didn't give up a run in four WBC appearances.
Lazo then went the final 4 2-3 innings for the win. He retired Ortiz and Beltre on fly balls in the eighth with the potential tying runs aboard.
Marti received a visit on the mound before facing cleanup hitter Ortiz in the first with two runners on, and Lazo and another pitcher immediately began warming up. But Ortiz grounded into an inning-ending double play on a 3-2 pitch.
Japan 6, South Korea 0
Japan beat South Korea once in three attempts during the Classic -- and that was enough to reach the championship game.
South Korea entered the nightcap as the WBC's only unbeaten team with a 6-0 record, going 3-0 in both qualifying rounds. Japan was 3-3, including a pair of one-run losses to the Koreans, and 1-2 in the second round.
The Japanese reached the semifinals by winning a tiebreaker over the US and Mexico. They only got another crack at South Korea because Mexico beat the Americans 2-1 on Thursday in the last game of the second round.
Nobuhiko Matsunaka doubled off losing pitcher Jun Byung-doo to start the seventh. Kim relieved and struck out Hitoshi Tamura before Fukudome hit a 1-1 pitch into the right-field seats.
Fukudome, batting for Toshiaki Imae, flipped his bat as he left the box, certain the ball was gone. Fukudome came to the plate with only two hits, including a homer, in 19 at-bats in the Classic.
Kim hit the next batter with his first pitch, prompting plate umpire Bob Davidson to warn both benches.
After a wild pitch, Tomoya Satozaki hit a ground-rule double to make it 3-0 and chase Kim. Pinch-hitter Shinya Miyamoto and Ichiro Suzuki added RBI singles off Son Min-han to complete Japan's decisive five-run rally.
Tamura opened the eighth with a solo homer off Bae Young-soo, connecting as a steady rain began to fall. A 45-minute rain delay began one out later.
Suzuki had three hits and two stolen bases.
Uehara was brilliant, giving up only three hits while walking none and striking out eight before being relieved by Yasuhiko Yabuta to start the eighth. Uehara retired 13 straight batters during one stretch. Yabuta and Akinori Otsuka each pitched one inning to complete the shutout.
South Korea starter Seo Jae-weong allowed three hits in five scoreless innings, retiring the last six batters he faced. Seo allowed only one run in 15 innings in three Classic starts.
Jun retired the side in order in the sixth before Japan blew the game open. South Korea had given up only eight runs in 60 innings entering the seventh.
Suzuki was moved from the leadoff spot to third in the lineup. He hit a two-out single and stole second in the first before Matsunaka grounded out.
Lee Jong-beom doubled in the bottom half and went to third on a two-out wild pitch, but Choi Hee-seop grounded out. South Korea didn't get another baserunner until Park Jin-man hit a two-out single in the fifth.
Suzuki singled and stole second again in the fourth, but Seo retired the next three batters.
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