Israel eliminates Mexico with 1st baseball win of Tokyo Olympics
Israel will face the winner of South Korea vs. Dominican Republic
Danny Valencia hit a three-run homer off a Mexican Double-A pitcher playing in his 15th consecutive minor league season, and Israel pounded relievers Fernando Salas and Oliver Perez in a 12-5 win Sunday to reach the double round-robin phase of the Olympic baseball tournament.
Israel (1-2) got its first Olympic baseball victory, breaking open the game in a six-run seventh inning and plays Tuesday against the winner of Monday night's game between South Korea and the Dominican Republic (both 1-1).
Manny Barreda (0-1), a 32-year-old right-hander drafted by the New York Yankees in 2007 and released seven years later, gave up six runs, four hits and three walks in two-plus innings as Israel took a 6-0 lead and went on to eliminate Mexico (0-3), which was outscored 20-9.
Mexico clawed back to 6-5 before Salas, a 36-year-old right-hander, allowed Ian Kinsler's leadoff double in the seventh and Valencia's single.
Perez relieved and the 39-year-old left-hander gave up Blake Gailen's RBI single, two-run singles by Mitch Glasser and Zack Penprase, and Scotty Burcham's RBI double.
Nick Rickles, a 31-year-old catcher who retired from Philadelphia's minor league system during spring training in 2019 to become a Milwaukee minor league coach, had three RBIs.
Zack Weiss (1-0) got the win by allowing one run in two innings. Israel had 12 hits and set a tournament high for runs.
Ryan Lavarnway, 5-for-13 in the Olympics, doubled up the left-center gap in the first, and Rickles hit an RBI single with two outs. Lavarnway, who played four games for Cleveland in June when Austin Hedges went on the concussion injured list, tried to score from second on Rickles' hit and was thrown out by left fielder Joey Meneses.
Barreda walked his first two batters in the the third and Valencia, exactly a week shy of the third anniversary of his last big league at-bat, rocketed an armpit-high fastball 10 rows deep into the left-field seats. Rickles greeted reliever Sasagi Sanchez with a two-run single for a 6-0 lead.
Adrian Gonzalez finished 3-for-11 with an RBI and Meneses 6-for-12 with four RBIs.
