A player on Team Japan steals second base past Israel's second baseman Tyler Krieger. (AP/Toru Takahashi)
Netanyahu considers Israel’s achievements in the World Baseball Classic this year a major success.
Israel’s Cinderella story in this year’s World Baseball Classic came to an end in Tokyo Wednesday after its team lost to Japan 8-3 in the second round.
“We’re disappointed because we lost and won’t be moving on, but we lost to two excellent teams,” said Team Israel’s manager Jerry Weinstein, adding that “Japan didn’t give anything away.”
The second excellent team referred to by Weinstein was that of the Netherlands, which routed Israel 12-2 in just 8 innings on Monday. According to World Baseball Classic’s rules, the game is ended after 7 innings if the run differential between both teams is at 10 points.
During Wednesday’s game, Israel managed to stay in a scoreless tie with Japan through 5 innings. Japan however, scored 5 runs in the sixth, which would end up to be more than enough to win the game.
Israel prevented a shutout in the ninth inning when Ike Davis scored in Sam Fuld with a single, followed by a double by Ryan Lavarnway, driving in another two runs.
Despite Team Israel’s loss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers Israel’s performance, which took many by surprise, a success.
“Israel’s achievements in baseball this year are a source of Jewish and Israeli pride,” stated Eli Groner, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, according to Times of Israel.
“These are players that take off their baseball hats and proudly wear skullcaps while singing the Israeli anthem before the game,” Groner continued. “That’s a diplomatic achievement that is going to stay with us for many years.”
“The State of Israel and the Foreign Ministry invest many resources into building relationships with many countries in the world where baseball is an important sport, like Japan, Latin America, China, Taiwan and others, and therefore Israel’s success is not only an athletic success, but also a diplomatic success,” he added.
By: World Israel News Staff
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