The opening round was fueled by KBO players. Venezuela came out of nowhere to become the first team to advance to the opening round.
The Venezuelan team won the opening round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 with an 11-0 seven-inning cold-game victory over the Netherlands in Group A at the Estadio Panamericano in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, on Friday (June 15).
With the win, Venezuela clinched first place in the group with a 4-1 opening round record and punched their ticket to the Super Round in Japan. They were the first team out of a group that included the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands. The Netherlands failed to advance to the Super Round with two wins and three losses.
Venezuela’s surge was fueled by KBO players. Ricardo Pinto, who played for the SK Wyverns (now SSG Landers) in 2020, started the game and earned the win with five innings of three-hit ball, striking out two and walking none. Pinto pitched five innings of three-hit, three-run ball, striking out six and walking none to earn the win in the opening round against Mexico on Tuesday. He led the way on the mound with an ERA of 0.00 in the opening round’s two games (10 scoreless innings).
Pinto left South Korea with a 6-15 record and a 6.17 ERA in 30 games with SK in 2020 (111 ERA in 162 innings). Pinto rounded out the rotation, 파워볼사이트 but showed mental limitations and was unable to capitalize on his pitches. He finished the season with the most losses and became the first foreign pitcher in regulation innings to post an ERA in the six-run range.
At the plate,
Hernan Perez, batting in the No. 2 spot, went 4-for-4 with one home run, four RBI and three runs scored. Perez was hot at the plate again today after going 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs in the previous day’s game against Puerto Rico.
Since joining Hanwha as an alternate foreign player in 2021, Perez has batted .732 with five home runs, 33 RBIs and an OPS of .732 in 59 games. He was recognized for his versatility but was not re-signed after failing to make an impact.
Venezuela loaded the bases in the first inning on Alexi Amarista’s double, Hernan Perez’s bunt single and Carlos Perez’s sacrifice fly to center field, and Ehir Adrianza’s two-run single to center field on Hermann Palacios’ pushoff double, Diego Castillo’s sacrifice fly to center field and Ehir Adrianza’s RBI single to make it 4-0.
In the bottom of the third, Erlis Rodriguez singled, Carlos Perez doubled and Hermann Palacios walked to load the bases. Diego Castillo singled, but Ejir Adrianza doubled and Francisco Arcia singled to score four more runs to take the lead.
From there, they scored one run each in the fourth through the sixth inning, including a two-run shot by Hernan Perez, to secure the cold game.