Olympics-Baseball-One-time MLB vets help Dominican Republic beat Mexico 1-0

Longtime Florida Marlins outfielder Emilio Bonifacio later in the inning chased down a ball deep in left center. Dominican starter Angel Sanchez, who plays for Japan's Yomiuri Giants, and reliever Ramon Rosso held Mexico to two hits each over six innings, and a trio of other pitchers did not allow a hit the rest of the game.

Well-known former Major League Baseball players along with a current Japanese league pitcher gave the Dominican Republic a 1-0 victory over Mexico on Friday, levelling the Caribbean country's record at Tokyo 2020. One-time New York Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera pushed a liner to the left-field wall in the fifth inning to bring home Dominican Republic's lone run.

"It wasn't only me. It was all of us," Cabrera said afterwards. "All 24 of us are heroes." In the sixth inning, former Toronto Blue Jays infielder Jose Bautista, playing left field for the Dominican team, prevented Mexico from scoring by throwing out Isaac Rodriguez, who had been trying to score on a double. Mexico lost a video challenge to the call.

"It definitely marked the difference in the game," Dominican manager Hector Borg said of Bautista's play. Longtime Florida Marlins outfielder Emilio Bonifacio later in the inning chased down a ball deep in left center.

Dominican starter Angel Sanchez, who plays for Japan's Yomiuri Giants, and reliever Ramon Rosso held Mexico to two hits each over six innings, and a trio of other pitchers did not allow a hit the rest of the game. On the other side of the ball, Mexico designated hitter and former San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez had a hit and a walk in four plate appearances.

"Unfortunately, we hit a lot of balls at them," Gonzalez said. "But the way this whole format is we control our destiny." Dominican Republic now stand at 1-1 and Mexico 0-1. If Japan (1-0) beats Mexico on Saturday, the hosts would not have to play again until Monday's quarter-finals. But Mexico could steal that privilege with a big win over Japan.

The bottom two teams face off on Sunday with their counterparts from the South Korea-United States-Israel tournament grouping. Dominican Republic right fielder Julio Rodriguez and second baseman Gustavo Nunez collided in the third inning while chasing a fly ball that Rodriguez caught. Though Nunez's knee and Rodriguez's chin and lips suffered bruises, they stayed in the game.