Team USA is 1-0 in baseball’s return to Olympics, thanks to some home cooking by a former Bomber.
Playing in what is now his home stadium, ex-Yankee Tyler Austin was 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, 3 RBI and two runs scored in Team USA’s 8-1 win over Israel on Friday. Austin, who hit third and served as the DH, gave the U.S. a 3-0 lead with his two-run homer off Joey Wagman in the third, then added an RBI double in the seventh and another double in the ninth, eventually scoring the final run for the red, white, and blue.
Austin, who debuted with the Yankees in August 2016, has spent the last two seasons with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Central League, and was slashing .314/.413/.603 with 19 homers and 49 RBI as of the Olympic break in 2021. Yokohama's stadium is the host venue to Olympic Baseball.
Among other notables, Todd Frazier was 0-for-3 but scored a run after reaching on an error, while ex-Met Ty Kelly was 1-for-4 for Team Israel, and former Yankees prospect Jeremy Bleich allowed an unearned run and struck out two in two-thirds of an inning for Israel.
RHP Joe Ryan, who was traded from Tampa Bay to Minnesota in the Nelson Cruz deal earlier this week – being dealt while he was in Japan preparing for the Games – got the win for Team USA, tossing six innings of one-run ball.
Team USA is 1-0 in their two-game pool play round, and will face South Korea at 7 p.m. local time Saturday (6 AM EDT) to round out Group B.
Both teams are 1-0 after each defeating Israel, so the winner will win Pool A and move directly into the second round of the Knockout Stage, while the loser will face the runners-up from Pool B in the first round.
America won bronze in 2008, the last time baseball was contested as an Olympic sport, by defeating Japan in the Bronze Medal Game.
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