Venezuela stuns Champion Japan

Japan’s journey finished at the World Baseball Classic. This was Venezuela’s night. Venezuela stuns Champion Japan, the 2026 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.