Olympic Baseball 2021: USA Defeats Dominican Republic to Advance to Semifinals

Yuichi Masuda/Getty Images

Team USA baseball kept its hopes of
winning a gold medal alive at the Tokyo Olympics with a victory over
Dominican Republic on Wednesday at Yokohama Stadium in Japan.

In the day’s second game, Japan and South Korea are currently facing off in the winners bracket for a place in the championship game.

The U.S. will play the losing team Thursday
with the second berth in the final on the line.

Aug. 4 Baseball Results

United States 3, Dominican Republic 1

Japan vs. South Korea

Recap

Team USA seized a 2-0 lead in
the first inning courtesy of a two-run home run by Boston Red Sox
prospect Triston Casas. It was his third longball of the tournament
to help pace the U.S. offense in Tokyo.

“At the end of the tournament,
nobody’s going to remember really how many home runs I hit or how
many runs I drive in. It’s just whether we came home with that gold,” Casas told reporters.

Tyler Austin, who’s playing
for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan after four MLB seasons, added
a homer in the fifth to push the Americans’ lead to 3-0.

The pitching staff took care of the
rest. Longtime MLB starter Scott Kazmir, who was sent to the minors by the San Francisco Giants in June after a brief stint with the big league club, pitched five shutout innings with
five strikeouts.

“He fell under a rock. I think he got
designated for assignment at the right time when we were about ready
to make some decisions in putting our club together,” manager Mike
Scioscia said. “There’s no doubt he can pitch in the major leagues
and be very effective, and I’m sure that’s going to happen at some
point.”

Brandon Dickson, Scott McGough and
Anthony Gose added scoreless frames of relief. Closer David Robertson
allowed a solo shot to Charlie Valerio but then managed to extinguish
the Dominican Republic’s rally to secure the save.