default-cbs-image

At long last, the second round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic (schedule, scores, standings) is set. A ninth inning rally sent Venezuela to the second round Monday night, where they’ll be in a pool with Team USA, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela beat Italy in the controversial tie-breaker game. Let’s recap the day’s WBC action, shall we?

Venezuela 4, Italy 3

The stakes of this game were high: the winner advanced to the second round and the loser went home. Italy took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning, but Miguel Cabrera immediately erased that with a game-tying solo home run. A walk and a very long run-scoring single by Rougned Odor followed, giving Venezuela the lead. Odor thought he hit a home run, but video replay confirmed it only hit the top of the wall. Here’s the video:

Italy was three outs away from a win, but gosh, they didn’t make it easy on themselves at all. They had chances to break the game open in the early innings but failed to capitalize -- Italy went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base -- and also committed a pair of defensive miscues in the sixth inning, allowing Venezuela to tie the game 1-1.

Ultimately, Venezuela’s offensive firepower was simply too much to handle. Italy’s bullpen, which features mostly Double-A and Triple-A caliber players, was unable to navigate the Miguel Cabrera- Victor Martinez-Rougned Odor-Carlos Gonzalez part of Venezuela’s lineup a fourth time. Venezuela is going to San Diego, Italy is going home.

Japan 8, Cuba 5

What a wild back and forth game this one. Japan and Cuba did not play their first scoreless inning until the seventh, and each time one club scored to take the lead, the other rallied to tie in the half-inning. Except in the eighth inning.

With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth, an error by Cuban first baseman Willian Saavedra opened the door for Cuba to push across three runs. The big blow was Tetsuto Yamada’s two-run home run, his second homer of the game. 

Japan remains undefeated in the WBC and is in great position to advance to the semifinals. They haven’t clinched just yet, however. Cuba, meanwhile, has to hope for a three-way tie with Israel and the Netherlands to have any chance to advance. They’re facing a big uphill climb and will need help from other teams in the pool to have a chance to move on.

Upcoming schedule

Now that Venezuela has advanced, Pool F play at Petco Park can begin. Here is the schedule of games over the next 24 hours:

  • Pool F: Dominican Republic (3-0) vs. Puerto Rico (3-0), 9pm ET on Tuesday
  • Pool E: Cuba (2-3 overall, 0-2 in Pool E) vs. Netherlands (3-2 overall, 1-1 in Pool E), 10pm ET on Tuesday
  • Pool E: Israel (4-1 overall, 1-1 in Pool E) vs. Japan (5-0 overall, 2-0 in Pool E, 6am ET on Wednesday

Team USA will play their first Pool F game Wednesday night. Here is the full WBC schedule. The Championship Game will be played March 22 at Dodger Stadium.