Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach.
Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5 win and first WBC semi-final appearance in 17 years.
“That was an exciting moment,” Abreu said in a postgame television interview. “I tried to at least tie the game with a sac fly. He gave me a really good pitch to hit. I made good contact. I’m very excited for this win. Now in the semifinals I hope I can do the same thing I did today.”
Photo: Imagn Images
Venezuela fell behind 5-2 when Maikel Garcia sparked a comeback with a two-run homer in the fifth. Abreu followed with his first homer of the tournament, a 409-foot drive to right that put his team ahead for good.
Abreu, a two-time Gold Glove-winning right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, is hitting .294 with six RBIs in five WBC games. He described Saturday’s moment as one of the best in his career — but he is no stranger to epic performances.
Abreu hit a grand slam and inside-the-park home run in the same game against the Cincinnati Reds last year, becoming the sixth player in major league history and the second Red Sox player since 1939 to accomplish that. The inside-the-park home run was the first by a Boston player in Fenway Park since Jacoby Ellsbury in 2011.
On Saturday, in a game with much higher stakes, Abreu said the team fed off the energy of the Venezuelan fans. They stood on their feet most of the game, cheering and banging drums after each play.
“I think that the crowd today and every game that we have played in this WBC, the fans have been great, incredible,” Abreu said. “You can feel the vibes. You can feel the support from the stands and from all the Venezuelans at home watching the game on TV.”
Abreu and his teammates know they are not done. Venezuela faces Italy in the semifinals but with this win, clinched a spot in the six-nation field for the 2028 Olympic baseball tournament, along with the US and the Dominican Republic.
“I believe that this means a lot to us Venezuelans for the country,” Abreu said. “Venezuela has participated in the Olympics in other categories and other sports, but we are trying to write our own history.”
“Our team is well-prepared,” he added. “The job is not completed. We have more to do.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS