Alvarez a summer-winter medalist, US reaches baseball final

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Eddy Alvarez became only the third American to earn medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics when the United States beat defending-champion South Korea 7-2 Thursday night to gain a berth into this weekend’s gold medal game against host Japan.

The former U.S. speedskater-turned-infielder wept in the dugout after the final out as teammates patted him on the back and offered handshakes and hugs.

After earning a silver in 2014 at Sochi as part of the U.S. four-man short track team, he'll get at least a silver in baseball. The other Americans with summer and winter medals are Eddie Eagen (boxing in 1920, bobsled in 1932) and Lauryn Williams (track and field in 2004 and 2012, bobsled in 2014).

Jack López drove in his first two runs of the Olympics with RBI singles for his first two hits, Jamie Westbrook hit a solo homer, and Tyler Austin hit a two-run single as the U.S. built a 7-1 lead with a five-run sixth. Alvarez and Mark Kolozsvary also drove in runs.

The U.S. team of prospects and released veterans, seeking the Americans’ second baseball gold medal and first since 2000, improved to 4-1 and will play Japan (5-0) on Saturday night.

Japan, which stopped its major league season to make top players available for the Olympics, defeated the U.S. 7-6 in 10 innings on Monday in the double-elimination second round.

South Korea (3-3) faces the Dominican Republic (2-3) for the bronze.

At the final out, a line drive caught by reliever Anthony Carter, Alvarez raised his right arm in triumph, then raised both arms and hugged shortstop Nick Allen.

A 31-year-old infielder with the Miami Marlins’ Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Alvarez and his team came up 0.271 seconds short of the Russians in the 5,000-meter relay in 2014. He's hoping this time to...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Alvarez-a-summer-winter-medalist-US-reaches-16366229.php