Venezuela rallies past Japan in WBC quarterfinal, boosting Olympic hopes

MIAMI — On the second pitch of the night, Ronald Acuña Jr. turned loanDepot Park into a home away from home.

The Atlanta Braves star launched a fastball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto deep into the left-field seats Saturday, sending Venezuelan flags swirling in the stands and staking his country to an early lead in a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal. Minutes later, Japan’s Shohei Ohtani answered with a towering drive of his own to center, a leadoff homer that seemed to restore order for the defending champions.

By the time the final out settled into a Venezuelan glove, that order had been upended. Venezuela rallied from a three-run deficit to beat Japan 8–5, eliminating the three-time champions and advancing to the semifinals — a victory that also effectively secured the Venezuelan national team a place in baseball’s return to the Olympic program at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

What’s next

Venezuela will face Italy in the semifinals. The United States will play the Dominican Republic in the other bracket.

The game at loanDepot Park, played Saturday night, was billed as a showcase of two of baseball’s biggest stars at the top of the order. It quickly became something more: a turning point in both the World Baseball Classic and the race for the limited Olympic berths on offer to the Americas.

A historic first inning: Acuña and Ohtani go back-to-back

Acuña and Ohtani made history before the first inning was over. The Associated Press, citing the Elias Sports Bureau, reported it was the first World Baseball Classic game in which both teams’ leadoff hitters homered in the opening frame. Elias also found no record of a regular-season or postseason Major League Baseball game in which previous Most Valuable Players, batting leadoff for each team, both hit home runs.

“Two MVPs. Two leadoff home runs. Expect everything,” the tournament’s official social media account posted along with video of the blasts.

If the early exchange suggested a slugfest between superstars, the rest of the night belonged to Venezuela’s depth and relief pitching.

Venezuela’s lineup and bullpen flip the game

Venezuela scored in five of the first eight innings and finished with three home runs and 10 hits. Maikel García’s two-run shot in the fifth inning and Wilyer Abreu’s three-run homer in the sixth flipped the game after Japan had built a 5–2 lead through three innings. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar went 3-for-4 and scored three times, and Gleyber Torres added two hits and a run batted in.

On the mound, Venezuela’s bullpen delivered 6 1/3 scoreless innings against one of international baseball’s most accomplished lineups. After starter Ranger Suárez was chased in the third, six relievers combined to allow four hits and one walk while striking out eight. Right-hander Enyel De Jesús earned the win with 2 1/3 steady innings, and Dany Palencia worked a clean ninth for the save.

Japan jumps ahead early — then goes quiet

Japan, which came in unbeaten after sweeping its pool in Tokyo, looked in control early. After Ohtani’s leadoff homer tied the game 1–1 in the bottom of the first, the defending champions broke through in the third. Outfielder Teruaki Sato doubled and Shota Morishita followed with a three-run home run to right, pushing Japan in front 5–2 and sending Suárez to the dugout.

From there, the Japanese bats went quiet. Japan managed only four singles the rest of the way and did not score after the third inning.

Venezuela chipped away. In the fifth, Jackson Chourio reached, and García drove a pitch over the left-field wall to cut the deficit to 5–4. An inning later, Tovar and Torres reached base to bring up Abreu. The Boston Red Sox outfielder turned on an inside fastball and lifted it into the right-field seats, a three-run homer that gave Venezuela a 7–5 lead and sent the Venezuelan fans massed behind the dugout into a prolonged celebration.

The World Baseball Classic account labeled it “the swing of a lifetime” in another social media post.

Japan’s defense contributed to the final margin. An error in the eighth inning allowed Venezuela’s eighth run to score, a mistake Spanish sports daily AS said “ended up sealing the night.” Japan finished with seven hits and one error.

What the loss means for Japan — and the Olympic picture

For Japan, the loss marked an unusually early departure from a tournament it has long dominated. The Japanese national team won the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic, in 2006 and 2009, and lifted the trophy again in 2023, when Ohtani struck out Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to clinch a 3–2 victory over the United States in Miami. In five previous appearances, Japan had never failed to reach at least the semifinals.

The latest exit means Japan will now have to qualify for Los Angeles 2028 the hard way. Under the Olympic qualification system agreed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation and Los Angeles organizers, the United States receives an automatic place as host nation. Two additional slots for the Americas are determined by results at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, with further berths awarded through the 2027 Premier12 tournament and a final global qualifier.

By advancing to the semifinals in Miami, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela finished as the top two non-U.S. teams from the Americas in this World Baseball Classic. Tournament and Olympic records list both as qualified for the 2028 baseball competition alongside the host United States.

A Miami crowd that felt like Caracas

The stakes were not lost on Venezuelan media, which framed the win as both an upset and a milestone. “Miami sleeps tonight with the scent of a feat,” AS wrote in its U.S. edition, adding that Venezuela had “toppled the Asian giant and reached the semifinals of the tournament.”

Baseball carries particular weight in Venezuela, where major league stars have long been among the country’s most prominent public figures. The national team’s run to the 2009 World Baseball Classic semifinals, and its dramatic loss to the United States in the 2023 quarterfinals, drew large street gatherings and watch parties in Caracas and in the Venezuelan diaspora.

Those same diaspora communities were visible again on Saturday. loanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins, sits in a city sometimes described as the “northernmost Latin American capital,” and Venezuelan fans dominated the crowd, waving flags and chanting as if the game were being played in Caracas rather than Florida.

The roster on the field has changed markedly since 2009. Acuña, 28, is now the face of the team, a former National League MVP whose combination of power and speed has made him one of MLB’s biggest attractions. Surrounding him is a younger core that includes Tovar, Chourio and Abreu, as well as established major leaguers like batting champion Luis Arráez and veteran catcher Salvador Perez.

On Saturday, even with Arráez held hitless, that depth showed. Eight of Venezuela’s nine starters reached base at least once. The bullpen, long viewed as a vulnerability in previous tournaments, retired 19 of the final 24 Japanese batters.

Japan, for its part, brought a roster heavy on Nippon Professional Baseball stars, anchored by Ohtani and Yamamoto, both now with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani, 31, did not pitch in this World Baseball Classic, serving only as designated hitter after recent elbow surgery. He still finished the tournament as one of its most dangerous hitters, entering the quarterfinal batting well over .400.

The defeat ensures that Japan’s path to Los Angeles will run through the Premier12 and perhaps a last-chance qualifier, events that could be complicated by negotiations over player availability and scheduling with NPB and MLB clubs.

For Venezuela, the picture is clearer. The national federation now has a four-year runway to prepare for an Olympic tournament that will be played in a city with deep Venezuelan roots and at ballparks already familiar to many of its stars.

Before Los Angeles, there is still Miami. Venezuela needs two more wins to claim its first World Baseball Classic title. The next challenge comes against Italy in the semifinals, in the same stadium where Acuña and Ohtani briefly turned back the clock for a historic first inning and where, over nine innings, Venezuela reset baseball’s balance of power — and its own future — on a single March night.