By Paresh Dave
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic won the bronze medal in baseball at the Tokyo Games on Saturday, the Caribbean country’s first Olympic medal in a team sport, with a 10-6 victory over Korea. South.
“Bringing this bronze medal to the country is everything,” said Julio Rodríguez, the team’s best hitter at the tournament. “We are a small island but we can compete.”
The Dominican Republic, in its second participation in Olympic baseball and the first in almost three decades, signed the victory with the hits of Juan Francisco and Johan Mieses in a five-run rally in the eighth inning.
Missing the podium added to South Korea’s disappointment after losing to the United States in the semifinals, denying the Asian team a chance to win a second straight baseball gold at the Games.
Major League Baseball teams have invested hundreds of millions of dollars since the 1990s to tap into Dominican talent like Rodriguez, who received a $ 1.75 million bonus when he joined the Seattle Mariners in 2017 to the 16 years.
The United States and Japan will define gold later on Saturday. (Reporting by Paresh Dave; Edited in Spanish by Javier Leira)