(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   USA second finalist Premier12 after win vs. Mexico
Nederlands
 TOKYO (Japan) -
The USA won 6-1 vs. Mexico on Friday-evening (November 20) in the second Semi-Final to become the second finalist of the Premier12.
The Americans initially trailed 1-0 in the fourth inning, but this time, the Semi-Final didn't end in a surprise like the day before.
Neither was Mexico unable to stunt again, as it did in the Quarter Final, as the USA answered with a 5-run in the fourth inning.
The USA (nr. 2 on the world ranking) now meets South Korea in the final, while Mexico (nr. 12 ) is playing for bronze against Japan.
The USA had reached the Semi-Final by winning 6-1 vs. the Netherlands Kingdom Team in the Quarter Final on Monday.
Mexico advanced to the Final Round in Japan with a surprising come-from-behind win against previous unbeaten Canada.
After trailing 3-1, Mexico rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to win 4-3 and reach the Semi-Final.
On Thursday, it was South Korea that accounted for a major upset in the Semi-Final vs. Japan.
The team trailed 3-0 after eight innings, thanks to dominating pitching from Japan, which held the Koreans to only one basehit.
But in the ninth, South Korea rallied for four runs on five hits to win 4-3 and qualify for the Final.
The Bronze Medal-game will begin at 1 PM local time (5 AM Dutch time) on Saturday-afternoon, followed by the all-decing Final, which starts at 7 PM local time (11 AM Dutch time).
(November 20)
In the first two innings, both teams stranded two runners.
In the bottom of the first inning, with two outs, Bret Eibner and Matt McBride walked for the USA, but were left behind.
In the top of the second inning, with outs, it were Mexicans Rudy Flores and Brandon Macias who walked and were left behind.
In the top of the third inning, Kevin Medrano singled with one out for Mexico to account for the first basehit in the game, but he stranded on first base.
...The Tokyo Dome also was the site of a preliminary round...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the fourth, Mexico also accounted for the first run in the game when Humberto Sosa led off with a homerun off of starter Zeke Spruill.
The righthander pitched six games in the Major League in both 2013 and 2014 for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The USA, which was retired in order by starter Mark Serrano in its third at bat, then rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth to turn the game its way.
All runs were scored with two outs.
With one out, Matt McBride singled.
Hereafter, Dan Black doubled down the rightfield-line.
McBride advanced to third base, but then was waved home after rightfielder Yadir Drake briefly failed to pick up the ball immediately.
But that proved to be too much, as McBride was eliminated in a rundown.
And so, the USA now had two outs and still trailed.
But then, the rally started.
Black scored the tying run on a following single by Adam Frazier.
Moments later, Frazier stole second base and Tyler Pastornicky walked, which led to a pitching change.
Gerardo Sánchez took over, but was greeted with a 2-run double by Dan Rohlfing that put the Americans ahead, 3-1.
Next, Rohlfing scored on a single into rightfield by Elliot Soto.
Rightfielder Yadir Drake made a nice throw back to the infield, which might have result in a play at the plate, but instead, first baseman Rudy Flores cut off the throw.
But while doing so, he let the ball jumped off his glove and that enabled Soto, who had advanced on the throw, to reach third base.
Soto then scored the fifth American run on a following single by Jacob May.
The USA added a run in the bottom of the fifth off of new pitcher Daniel Rodriguez.
With one out, Dan Black reached on an error, advanced to third on a single by Adam Frazier and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Pastornicky.
In the top of the seventh inning, Mexico got the bases loaded, but failed to score.
With one out, Alfredo Lopez singled off of Seth Simmons, who had come on in relief in the previous inning.
An error then followed on a force play-grounder by Kevin Medrano, then the bases got loaded when Robert Lopez walked with two outs.
But the inning then ended with a pop-fly in the infield.
The Americans also didn't add more runs, stranding two runners in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the top of the ninth inning, new pitcher Jake Barrett got two quick outs, but then gave up a single to Kevin Medrano.
He moved on a passed ball, but then Barrett ended the game with a strikeout.
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