U.S. to face Japan for gold in baseball

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Eddy Alvarez sat in the U.S. dugout after the final out, buried his face in his hands and wept, even though his biggest game remains ahead.

A 7-2 victory over defending champion South Korea on Thursday night set up a gold-medal matchup against Japan and assured the 31-year-old speedskater-turned-second baseman of becoming only the third American to earn medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

“Yeah, I got emotional because it was a lot of sacrifice,” he said. “I still can't believe it. I know the job's not done yet because at the end of the day, one of the only reasons why I came out here is for redemption, to win a gold medal."

After earning a silver in 2014 at Sochi as part of the U.S. four-man short track team, Alvarez will 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).

Alvarez is batting .350 with three RBIs. His skating team finished 0.271 seconds behind Russia in the 5,000-meter relay at Sochi, but three of the four gold medalists were banned from the 2018 Winter Games over suspicions of doping.

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, with Martinez (1-0) getting the start in a ballpark he's familiar with from pitching for the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Against South Korea, 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 tworun single as the U.S. built a 7-1 lead with a five-run sixth. Alvarez and Mark Kolozsvary also drove in runs. At the final out, a line drive caught by Anthony Carter, Alvarez raised his right arm in triumph, then raised both arms and hugged shortstop Nick Allen.