FUKUOKA, JAPAN (BDCi) — Ray Chang drove in two runs Tuesday and China rallied with five runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat Brazil 5-2 in Group A of the World Baseball Classic.
Brazil led 2-0 in the eighth but China scored its first run on a bases-loaded walk before Chang hit a soft fly ball to left field that scored two and gave China a 3-2 lead.
China added two more runs on bases-loaded walks before Lu Jiangang recorded the final out.
With the win, China improved to 1-2 and earned a spot in next year’s classic while Brazil (0-3) will be forced to qualify for the next tournament.
“Our pitching completely fell apart,” Brazil manager Barry Larkin said. “And it wasn’t just the pitching. We had many chances offensively but we were not able to capitalize so we had a two run lead that should have been bigger.”
Lu earned the win for China while Murlio Gouvea gave up three earned runs in the eighth to pick up the loss.
Source: espn.com
Photo: cbssports.com