Israel Wins Fourth Straight At World Baseball Classic

TOKYO—Team Israel continued to be the big surprise in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Asia rounds, winning its fourth straight game over a strong Cuba team. Israel took a 4-1 decision in the opening game of the second round (Pool E).

Fresh off a 3-0 record in Pool A games in Korea, Israel got excellent pitching from righthander Jason Marquis and three relievers, some timely hitting and a perfectly executed safety squeeze to register a come-from-behind victory at Tokyo Dome.

“We’ve pitched extremely well and have had timely hitting and good defense,” Israel manager Jerry Weinstein said.

Cuba opened the scoring in the top of the second when cleanup hitter Alfredo Despaigne blasted a long home run off Marquis. It was Despaigne’s third home run of the tournament but, as it turned out, it would be the only scoring on the afternoon for Cuba.

Israel tied the game at 1-1 in the third on a two-out double by catcher Ryan Lavarnway that scored Ike Davis, who had walked, from first. The Cinderella team added two more runs in the sixth on a single by right fielder Zach Borenstein and a double by left fielder Blake Gailen.

With runners at first and third in the eighth, Gailen laid down a safety squeeze to score Borenstein and make the score 4-1, and that’s where the scoring ended. Both teams finished with five hits.

“I am happy we were able to defeat one of the premier teams in international baseball,” Weinstein said.

Relievers Zach Thornton, Brad Goldberg and Josh Zeid held the Cubans in check after Marquis left with two outs in the sixth. Thornton was the winning pitcher, and Zeid picked up a four-out save after coming in with two outs and the bases loaded for Cuba in the top of the eighth.

Lefthander Yoennis Yera was the losing pitcher for Cuba.

“Our offense was not in good condition today, and the main reason we lost was that our pitchers were not able to locate well,”Cuban manager Carlos Marti said. “We gave up eight walks, and that is too many. We could not adjust to the strike zone of the plate umpire.”

 

Marquis said he made the one mistake in giving up the Despaigne homer and could have pitched longer.

“I felt good and got better rhythm as the game went on,” Marquis said.  “The defense made some nice plays for me.”

Pitchers in the second round are allowed to throw up to 80 pitches, and Marquis’ pitch count was at 69 when he was lifted. “I had a lot left in the tank, but we have a great bullpen. It was team win,” he said.

Borenstein agreed, saying, “We have such good team chemistry, and no one is trying to be a hero.”

“We don’t care if we are underdogs,” Lavarnway said. “It makes it more fun, and we are enjoying it.”

The 4-0 start is impressive, but Weinstein said it doesn’t mean anything if his club does not continue to play well. Israel will next face the Netherlands on Monday night in Tokyo and will play Japan, a team that also went 3-0 in the first round, in the Pool E final scheduled game on Wednesday.