Venezuela on Monday rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to beat Italy 4-3 in a tiebreaker game in Guadalajara, Mexico, to advance to Round Two of the World Baseball Classic.
Italy led 2-1 going into the ninth, but on the second pitch of the final frame, two-time American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers hit a towering home run to tie it.
Rougned Odor singled off the top of the outfield wall to score Victor Martinez with the go-ahead run and Odor later scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Alcides Escobar to give Venezuela an insurance run, which proved necessary.
Italy’s Alex Liddi homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth against closer Francisco Rodriguez, but the right-hander held on for the save.
John Andreoli homered to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh, briefly giving the Italians hope of making the second round for the second straight Classic.
Andreoli stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but Rodriguez forced him to ground out to third.
Both Venezuela and Italy entered the game with 1-2 records. The win sent Venezuela to San Diego for Round Two and a game against the US today.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were yesterday to play the Pool F opener at Petco Park in San Diego.
Earlier, Didi Gregorius homered and drove in five runs as the Netherlands crushed Israel 12-2 in Tokyo to move closer to a semi-final spot.
The win left the Netherlands with a 1-1 record in second-round play, behind Pool E leaders Japan, who won their opening game.
The loss was the first of the tournament for Israel, who dipped to 1-1 and play Japan in their Pool E finale, while the Netherlands take on winless Cuba.
The top two teams in the pool advance.
Jair Jurrjens, who pitched in Major League Baseball for eight seasons, gave the Netherlands six solid innings of work, limiting Israel to one run on five hits.
Meanwhile, Dutch bats pounded Israel pitching for 15 hits, with Andrelton Simmons, Wladimir Balentien and Yurendell de Caster each collecting three.
However, it was Gregorius who did much of the damage, the New York Yankees shortstop keying a four-run fourth inning with a three-run blast into the Tokyo Dome’s right field seats.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS