US beats Japan 4-3 in Olympic baseball qualifying in Tokyo

Tampa Bay prospect Jake Cronenworth put the U.S. ahead to stay in the first inning, Angels draft pick Jo Adell homered and the Americans beat Japan 4-3 Tuesday night at the Tokyo Dome for their first win in the super round of an Olympic baseball qualifying tournament.

Clayton Richard, released by Toronto in September, got the win despite allowing two runs in 2 2/3 innings. Brandon Dickson, a former St. Louis pitcher who has spent seven seasons with Orix in Japan’s Pacific League, struck out two in a perfect ninth for the save. Seattle’s Penn Murfee started with three hitless innings.

In Tuesday’s other games at the Premier12 tournament, Mexico beat Australia 3-0 and Taiwan defeated South Korea 7-0. Mexico leads with a 3-0 record, followed by Japan and South Korea (both 2-1), the U.S. and Taiwan (both 1-2) and Australia (0-3).

Managed by Scott Brosius, the U.S. plays Australia on Wednesday and Taiwan on Friday. The first- and second-place teams advance to the Premier12’s gold-medal game. Japan and Israel are assured berths in the six-nation Olympic field.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports