LOS ANGELES – Brandon Crawford scored the tiebreaking run when Nobuhiro Matsuda bobbled Adam Jones’ grounder to third in the eighth inning, and the United States reached the championship game of the World Baseball Classic for the first time by beating Japan 2-1 on Tuesday night at rainy Dodger Stadium.
Andrew McCutchen drove in an early run for the United States, which will play Puerto Rico for the title at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. Puerto Rico beat the Netherlands 4-3 in 11 innings Monday in the first semifinal.
The World Baseball Classic final has been played in the United States in each of its four editions, but the home team had never made it.