Wilyer Abreu hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning Saturday night for Venezuela, which eliminated defending champion Japan with an 8-5 win in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals in Miami.
Venezuela, the runner-up in Pool D with a 3-1 record, will face Italy in Monday night’s semifinal. Italy outlasted Puerto Rico 8-6 in Houston earlier Saturday.
The winner of Venezuela-Italy will advance to Tuesday’s championship game against the winner of Sunday’s semifinal between the United States and the Dominican Republic.
Japan, which went 4-0 in Pool C play, was eliminated prior to the semifinals for the first time in six WBCs as its bid for a fourth title ended.
Abreu’s homer provided the biggest flourish in an entertaining game that began in historic fashion when Ronald Acuna Jr. and Shohei Ohtani each homered leading off the first.
Acuna Jr., the 2023 National League Most Valuable Player, and Ohtani, the two-time defending NL MVP who also won two MVPs in the American League, are the first pair of former MVPs to lead off the same game with homers.
Gleyber Torres gave Venezuela the lead a second time with an RBI double in the second before Japan went ahead 5-2 in the third, when Teruaki Sato delivered a run-scoring double and Shota Morishita later followed with a three-run homer.
Morishita entered the game an inning earlier in place of Seiya Suzuki, who exited with a right knee injury after he was caught stealing in the first.
Venezuela began its comeback in the fifth, when Maikel Garcia hit a two-run homer. Ezequiel Tovar and Torres opened the sixth with singles against losing pitcher Hiromi Itoh before Abreu unleashed a wild celebration by hitting a 409-foot homer to right.
Tovar added an insurance run in the eighth when he scored from second when Atsuki Taneichi’s pickoff throw sailed into centerfield.
Enmanuel De Jesus, Venezuela’s third pitcher, earned the win with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. Daniel Palancia notched the save by striking out two in a perfect ninth that ended with Ohtani popping out.
Ranger Suarez started and the game for Venezuela and gave up all five runs in 2 2/3 innings.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto started for Japan and allowed two runs in four innings.
