Team USA baseball is one win away from a medal and two away from gold in Tokyo after a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic Wednesday.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Tyler Austin walked, and Red Sox prospect Tristan Casas launched a two-run homer that would give the Americans all the runs they would need. Austin added an insurance run with a solo homer in the fifth, but it was more than enough on the night, as Team USA pitching all but shut down a Dominican squad full of former Major Leaguers.
Facing a lineup that included the likes of Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Erick Mejia, USA starter Scott Kazmir pitched five innings of two-hit ball, striking out four along the way. After scoreless innings from Brandon Dickson, Scott McGough, and Anthony Gose, David Robertson came on for the save; D-Rob allowed a two-out solo homer and walked Jeison Guzman to bring the tying run to the plate, but he fanned Yefri Perez to nail it down and assure the USA of a medal.
Among notables, Todd Frazier was 0-for-3, Austin was 1-for-3 with the walk and the solo homer, and Cabrera was 1-for-4 for the Dominicans.
Team USA will face South Korea, who lost 5-2 to Japan on Wednesday, in an important game at 7 p.m. local time Thursday (6 AM EDT). The loser of that game will face the D.R. in the bronze medal game at noon local time Saturday (11 pm Friday night EDT), while the winner will move on to face Japan in the gold medal game on Saturday (7 pm Tokyo/6 am EDT).
A medal would be Team USA's third official medal in baseball, as they won gold in Sydney in 2000 and bronze in both 1996 and 2008, the last time baseball was an official sport.
Team USA also reached the final round of the two exhibition tournaments held in 1984 and 1988 before it became an official sport in 1992, falling to Japan in Los Angeles before topping the Japanese in Seoul with a squad that included Jim Abbott, Tino Martinez, and Robin Ventura, among others.
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