.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.
Wilyer Abreu hit a monster home run to give Venezuela a lead they would not relinquish in the top of the sixth. Here’s that home run and the incredible bat flip that accompanied it.
BALL SENT
BAT TOSSED
WHEN THEY BOTH CAME DOWN TEAM VENEZUELA HAD THE LEAD 🔥 pic.twitter.com/m95schd34K
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 15, 2026
Venezuela’s bullpen did the rest as six pitchers combined to throw 6 1/3 innings of shut out ball. They gave up just four hits and held Japan without a run from the third inning on.
Venezuela’s World Baseball Classic will continue against Italy on Monday.
And in case you missed anything, you can catch up with the live blog below.
Japan vs. Venezuela live blog: Updates from the World Baseball Classic quarterfinalsMore MLB on Sports Illustrated