Isaac Paredes was the hero for Mexico on Friday at the Planet Baseball Classic. (Sam Navarro-USA Nowadays Sports)

A nightmare commence did not cease Mexico, and now it is headed to the Planet Baseball Classic semifinals for the initially time following a five-four win Friday more than Puerto Rico.

The game began with 4 runs for Puerto Rico in the leading of the initially inning, such as back-to-back residence runs by Javier Baez and Eddie Rosario. Puerto Rico, which reached the game in excruciating style, was all more than leading Mexico pitcher Julio Urias, the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander who won the National League ERA title final season.

Mexico buckled down from there. Urias, Javier Assad, JoJo Romero, Jake Sanchez and Giovany Gallegos did not enable a run following the initially inning, with Sanchez obtaining some support from WBC breakout star Randy Arozarena on a would-be further-base hit in the eighth inning.

In case you had been questioning how a lot these players care about the WBC, Arozarena told Fox’s Ken Rosenthal that he areas that catch above any residence run he has hit in MLB, such as the 3 he hit in the 2020 Planet Series:

“That was much better than any residence run I’ve ever hit in the significant leagues,” he stated. “That was much better than the residence run I hit in the Planet Series. That catch was the greatest.”

The offense came in spurts in this quarterfinal, with Mexico third baseman Isaac Paredes, who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays, placing his nation on the board in the second inning with a solo residence run. Alex Verdugo offered Mexico’s second run with a bases-loaded single in the fifth inning, and that was followed by the genuine harm in the seventh.

Paredes, who reached base 4 occasions, singled with the bases loaded and two outs to tie the game. Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Luis Urias followed with a single to give Mexico the lead:

Mexico, which reached the quarterfinals with a initially-spot finish in Pool C, will now face powerhouse Japan on Monday in Miami on Fox Sports 1. With a win in that game, it would get the U.S., Venezuela or Cuba in the 2023 WBC final.