Scioscia 1 win from matching Lasorda with gold medal

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Mike Scioscia is one win from matching mentor Tommy Lasorda, the only manager to lead the United States to a baseball gold medal.

Host Japan, which stopped its major league season during the Tokyo Olympics, is the favorite in Saturday's gold medal game (6 a.m. EDT).

Scioscia's team, a mixture of prospects mostly from Double-A, career minor leaguers and released veterans, overcame a blown ninth-inning lead in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to Japan to reach the final by beating the Dominican Republic 3-1 and South Korea 7-2.

“I think you can look at a lot of the negative things that maybe aren't happening as far as COVID; obviously we're all concerned with that, not having any freedom, not having any fans in the stands, free to go watch some events," Scioscia said. "We can talk about some things in the negative, but the bottom line is, it says USA across our jersey and these guys are playing for a gold medal this weekend. Doesn’t get any better that.”

Nick Martinez starts for the U.S. The 31-year-old right-hander pitched for Texas from 2014-17, then spent three seasons with the Pacific League's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters before switching this season to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Martinez got the opening-round win over South Korea, allowing one run and four hits in five innings with nine strikeouts. He is familiar with Yokohama Stadium from his time in Japan.

“Playing at this field definitely helps,” he said. “I feel comfortable.”

Japan (5-0), seeking its first baseball gold medal, is batting .288, second to South Korea’s .294. The U.S. (4-1) is third at .247 with a tournament-high seven home runs — including three by Boston prospect Triston Casas. American batters have struck out 50 times, far more than the 36 for contact-focused Japan.

U.S. pitchers...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Scioscia-1-win-from-matching-Lasorda-with-gold-16368513.php