Venezuela beat defending champions Japan 8-5 in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinal on Saturday night in an instant classic. It was a disappointing ending for Japan, but an incredible accomplishment for Venezuela, who erased a three run deficit midway through the game and leaned on a bullpen that turned in a tremendous performance to earn the country its first ever trip to the WBC semifinals.
Both teams got the fireworks going early with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Shohei Ohtani both hitting lead-off home runs in the first inning. Venezuela hit Japan's starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto hard with four extra base hits, but only had a 2-1 lead into the third when Japan scored four runs.
