Venezuela powers past defending champs to reach Classic semifinals

MIAMI -- The champs are out at the World Baseball Classic. This was Venezuela's night.

Venezuela took down Japan, the 2023 WBC champions, with an 8-5 come-from-behind win in the quarterfinals at loanDepot park on Saturday night.

Wilyer Abreu crushed a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning off Hiromi Itoh -- the reigning winner of the Sawamura Award, Japan's version of the Cy Young -- and Daniel Palencia got Shohei Ohtani to pop up for the final out to send Venezuela into the semifinals against Italy.

For Venezuela manager Omar López, these wins are everything.

"I'm doing this for free," López said after the game. "I'm not getting paid to manage my team. But my country right now is celebrating.

"It's extremely happy. It's on the streets. They're drinking right now, and that makes me happier than anybody else in this world. Because this is the only thing that I can do. This is the only thing that I can do for my country.

"That's the only thing that I'm going to take back home. And 20 years from now, I'll remember I made my country happy at least for one or two days. That's all I need."

The Venezuelan players know what these wins mean for the fans in Miami and in their home country, too, and they're showing it on the field.

Abreu pumped both fists as he came out of the batter's box on his home run into the upper deck, then launched his bat straight up into the air. The Red Sox outfielder didn't stop celebrating all the way around the bases.

"It happens so fast," Abreu said. "It's a great feeling, something that I wouldn't imagine and is very difficult to describe. It's a unique moment and one of the best moments that I've had in my career."

Venezuela will face Italy on Monday night in Miami (8 p.m. ET, FS1). The country is playing in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic for the first time since 2009, which was its best-ever finish at the WBC. Venezuela lost to Korea in the semis that year.

"Maybe the most important game [of my career]," Ronald Acuña Jr. said. "When we went to the World Series [with the Braves], I wasn't there. Thank God I'm living this great moment in my career."

Japan's 2026 WBC run ends here. After the game was over, while Venezuela partied in its dugout, the Samurai Japan players assembled along the third-base line and bowed to the fans in Miami.

"Truly, anything other than a championship feels like a failure," Ohtani said. "Everyone on Team Japan was working hard, aiming only for the championship. … It's unfortunate that it ended this way."

Saturday's game got off to an electrifying start as Acuña and Ohtani traded leadoff home runs for Venezuela and Japan.

Acuña led off the game with a shot to right-center off 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, pumping up the Venezuelan fans in the crowd as he finished off his home run trot with a signature "La Bestia" (that's "The Beast") celebration.

But Ohtani answered right back with a 114 mph rocket to right-center -- with a bat flip of his own -- to equalize the game for Samurai Japan.

"Ohtani's a global superstar," Acuña said. "He's a phenomenon. But that's part of the game, you know? I'm very happy to win."

That pair of leadoff homers was historic. Both Acuña and Ohtani are MLB MVPs. There has never been a game in MLB history in which two players who have won an MVP Award have hit leadoff home runs in the same game.

While Yamamoto eventually settled down for Japan, pitching four innings, holding Venezuela to two runs and striking out five, Japan later teed off on Ranger Suarez and knocked him out of the game in the fourth.

Teruaki Sato, the reigning MVP of NPB's Central League, ripped a clutch game-tying RBI double down the right-field line after an intentional walk to Ohtani. And Shota Morishita -- who had entered the game in place of Cubs star Seiya Suzuki, who injured his right knee on a stolen-base attempt in the first inning -- followed Sato with a three-run homer.

But Venezuela got back to within a run against the Japanese bullpen with a two-run homer by Royals All-Star Maikel Garcia off Chihiro Sumida in the fifth, setting the stage for Abreu's go-ahead blast.

"What really changed the game was when Maikel hit the homer," Abreu said. "The spirit of the team was very high. We were confident we could win the game after that homer."

Japan's pitching staff, which was so dominant on its 2023 WBC title run, was hit hard by the MLB stars of Venezuela. Japanese manager Hirokazu Ibata credited the high caliber of competition in the 2026 Classic.

"I don't think there was anything wrong with our pitchers this time, and some of them were here three years ago as well," Ibata said. "Many countries are getting better, I believe. I know we lost this time, but I would hope Japan will get better next time. I hope Team Japan will win next time."

Of course, one of the pitchers Japan didn't have for the 2026 Classic was Ohtani, who only hit in this WBC, by agreement between him and the Dodgers, after memorably closing out the 2023 WBC on the mound with a strikeout of Mike Trout.

Could Ohtani have made a difference in the Samurai Japan rotation? Surely. But maybe not in this game with his Los Angeles teammate Yamamoto already starting.

"I don't know," Ibata said. "We didn't have an option for Ohtani to pitch in the middle of the game, so I don't think I know what would have happened. But of course I would have wanted him to pitch, but I didn't have a choice."

And whether Ohtani was batting against them, pitching against them or both, Venezuela is a great team, full of great players -- Acuña, Luis Arraez, Salvador Perez, Jackson Chourio, Eugenio Suárez … and on and on.

With their World Baseball Classic run, Venezuela's present-day stars are making their mark alongside the country's great players of the past.

"Venezuela has always been a powerhouse in baseball," López said. "We have always been a powerhouse -- it's not because we beat Japan, we've become a powerhouse. No way.

"We are a global powerhouse just like Japan or the U.S. We all have an importance in the baseball world. But we have had so many players, legends, players that are retired, others that are active. Yes, we can say that we are a global power."