Israel easily defeats Mexico 12-5, stays alive in baseball tournament

YOKOHAMA, Japan-Danny Valencia threw a three-round homerun and Israel rough Mexico 12-5 on Sunday to stay alive in the Tokyo Olympics in the baseball tournament.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Israel (1-2) scored a first Olympic victory in baseball after scoring six races in the seventh round. The team takes the field again on Tuesday to face South Korea (2-1), which defeated the Dominican Republic (1-2) with the position 4-3.

The winner of the South Korea-Israel match will play either the United States or Japan on Wednesday with a place in the final at stake.

Manny Barreda (0-1) allowed six races, four hits and three trips in addition to two laps on the mound. Israel took the lead 6-0, on its way to eliminating Mexico (0-3).

The Mexicans came close to 6-5 before Fernando Salas allowed Ian Kinsler a double and Valencia a single in the seventh round.

Oliver Pérez went in and allowed Blake Gailen a one-run single, Mitch Glasser and Zack Penprase a two-run single and Scotty Burcham’s one-round double.

Nick Rickles produced three races for the Israelis.

Zack Weiss (1-0) recorded the victory after dropping a point in two innings. Israel had 12 hits.

Later on Sunday, Kim Hyun-soo thanked a three-point pressure in the ninth round with a productive single over Luis Castillo to give South Korea a second victory in the final round of battles.

Park Hae-Min hit a one-round single and Lee Jung-Hoo equalized it with a one-round double.

Oh Seunghwan (1-0) was perfect at the start of the ninth.

Juan Francisco hit a two-run homer for the Dominican Republic in the fourth inning.

The Dominican Republic will play in a playoff game against the loser of the match between Israel and South Korea.

- By Associated Press

Ronald Blum, The Canadian Press