Seoul (Korea). Colombia carried all of their momentum over from Monday night’s upset over Korea into their next game on the following morning. They came out swinging the bats well after a one-hour rain delay, scoring three runs in the top of the first en route to a 7-2 stunner over Venezuela. With the win they improved to 3-2 and pushed their South American opponents (2-3) out of the second round.
Two singles by Yair Morelos and Fernando Llamas followed by a two-triple of Cristian Cano gave Colombia a head start three batters into the game. Cano scored a couple of moments later thanks to an error, making it 3-0 with one out. A double play ended the rally shortly after, but the damage was done. Venezuela answered right away, when Isaias took advantage of a Colombian error to score from second.
It was just a short flicker by the Venezuelan offense, which wouldn’t score again until a Wilson Garcia RBI groundout in the sixth. Colombia on the other side plated four more insurance runs to seal the win. In the sixth two scored on a triple by Christian Palacios and another error. Wison Garcia and Palacios drove in two more with a single and a double in the seventh respective ninth.
Like against Korea, one of the biggest reasons for the upset, was the strong pitching of the Colombian hurlers. Yeizer Marruggo allowed just two unearned runs on four hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five for the win. Nabil Crismatt closed it out with three innings of one-hit relief. Venezuela’s starter Argenis Angulo lasted just six batters, getting replaced with one out in the first to take the loss.
