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YOKOHAMA, Japan – Eddy Alvarez will become only the third American to win medals at the Winter and Summer Olympics after the United States beat defending champion South Korea 7-2 on Thursday night to secure a spot in this weekend’s gold medal game against hosts Japan.
The American speed skater turned infielder cried in the dugout after the final as his teammates patted him on the back and offered handshakes and hugs.
Alvarez, who won a silver medal in 2014 in Sochi as part of the US four-man short track team, will get at least one silver in baseball.
The other American summer and winter medalists are Eddie Eagen (boxing in 1920, bobsleigh in 1932) and Lauryn Williams (athletics in 2004 and 2012, bobsleigh in 2014).
Jack Lopez drove his first two points at the Olympics with RBI singles for his first two hits, Jamie Westbrook hit a solo homerun and Tyler Austin hit a two-run single as the United States took a lead of 7-1 with a sixth of five points. . Alvarez and Mark Kolozsvary also had runs.
The US hopefuls and released veterans team, chasing the Americans’ second gold in baseball and the first since 2000, improved to 4-1 and will face Japan (5-0) on Saturday evening.
Japan, which ended its major league season to make the best players available for the Olympics, beat the United States 7-6 in 10 innings on Monday in the double-elimination second round.
South Korea (3-3) faces the Dominican Republic (2-3) for bronze.
In the final outing, a line drive caught by reliever Anthony Carter, Alvarez raised his right arm in triumph, then raised both arms and squeezed shortstop Nick Allen.
31-year-old infielder with triple shrimp A Jacksonville Jumbo of the Miami Marlins, Alvarez and his team finished 0.271 seconds behind the Russians in the 5,000-meter relay in 2014. He hopes to finish the job this time against another. host country.
Alvarez made his major league debut last season when the Marlins roster was wiped out by the coronavirus, hitting 0.189 with zero RBI in 12 games.
Eagen won a gold in light heavyweight boxing in 1920 and a gold in four-man bobsleigh in 1932. Williams won silver in the 100-meter sprint in 2004, gold in the 400 relay in 2012 although he did not make the final and a silver medal in the two-man bobsleigh in 2014.
Ryder Ryan (1-0), a 26-year-old right-hander at Texas Triple-A Round Rock, pitched an inning without a hitting for the Americans’ second win over South Korea after a 4-2 first-round victory .
US starter Joe Ryan, a 25-year-old right-hander obtained by the Minnesota Twins in last month’s trade that sent Nelson Cruz to the Tampa Bay Rays, allowed four hits in the 4th inning and left a lead of 2-1. South Korea stacked their batting order with six left-handed hitters, likely noting Ryan’s right-handed / left-handed divisions in the minor leagues.
Lopez, a 28-year-old infielder promoted to triple A Worcester by the Boston Red Sox in May, fielded a single with two RBI strikeouts in the second for his first hit in eight Olympic batting appearances. Lopez is a nephew of former big league shortstop Onix Concepcion.
Westbrook scored about 20 rows in the left field seats for a 2-0 lead in the fourth. The 26-year-old was demoted to Double-A Biloxi by the Milwaukee Brewers in mid-May and then promoted to Triple-A Nashville in early June.
Park Hae-min chased Joe Ryan with an RBI single in the fifth, and Ryder Ryan only needed two throws to escape the two-man trouble, which allowed Kang Baek-ho to blend into a double play. at the end of the round.
The American hitters battled four relievers in the sixth. Kolozsvary and Lopez had simple RBIs; RBI striker Alvarez made it 5-1; and Austin, at his home stadium for the Central League’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars, followed with a two-run single that earned him seven RBIs in the tournament.
Oh Ji-hwan netted an RBI brace in the seventh against Scott McGough. Anthony Gose, throwing up to 98 mph, picked up with two sures and got a pair of called third strikes, then threw an eighth without a hit.
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