DR walks off, ends Israel's Olympics run

You can add walk-off base hit in the Olympics to José Bautista's long list of baseball accomplishments.

In a game that featured three lead changes in the final three innings, Bautista and the Dominican Republic eked past Israel, 7-6, in an elimination game Tuesday.

The D.R. entered the last of the ninth trailing by a run, but it quickly knotted the score thanks to Red Sox prospect Johan Mieses’ no-doubt homer off pitcher Zack Weiss. Five batters later, the former Blue Jays star drove home the winning run with a sharp single to left.

The victory, which assures that the D.R. will play for a medal in these Olympics, served as a sweet reversal of fortune after it suffered two walk-off losses earlier in the tournament.

The Dominican Republic will play Team USA on Wednesday, with Denyi Reyes starting against USA's Scott Kazmir. The winner will advance to the semifinals, while the loser will vie for the bronze medal Saturday.

The seesaw nature of the game really got going in earnest when Israel put up four runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-2 lead. That surge was capped with an RBI single from four-time MLB All-Star Ian Kinsler.

The Dominican Republic pulled even with two runs in the sixth and then took a 5-4 advantage in the seventh on Jeison Guzmán's solo home run.

But in the eighth, nine-year MLB veteran Danny Valencia jolted Israel back in front with a two-run shot. The homer was Valencia’s third of the Olympics, the most by any player.

Weiss struck out the side in the bottom half of the eighth, but he couldn’t close out the ninth, his fourth inning of work. Team Israel was sent home from its first Olympic appearance in fifth place.