The U.S. baseball team came up just short in extra innings during their first game of the knockout stage, losing to Japan 7-6 in 10 innings.
Red Sox top prospect Triston Casas starred on Monday, getting on base in three of his five at-bats and hitting a three-run homer in the fifth inning.
Japan jumped out to an early lead, scoring twice in the third on a pair of singles and chasing USA starter Shane Baz after just 2.2 innings.
The American bats awoke in the fourth, as Casas scored on a Todd Frazier double, Frazier scored on a Mike Kolozsvary single and Kolozsvary scored on a Nick Allen double. Japan starter Masahiro Tanaka was pulled after 3.2 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out six.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Japan evened the score at three in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI double by Hayato Sakamoto, as the teams were tied through four.
Scoring continued into the fifth when Casas blasted a three-run shot to opposite field for his second homer in as many games.
It looked like Japan would again even the score in the bottom of the fifth, but they left a runner stranded at third base after scoring twice in the inning.
Pitching took center stage over the late innings. Japan threatened with a runner at third base in the eighth, but David Robertson struck out Sakamoto to kill the rally.
Tokyo Olympics
Watch all the action from the Tokyo Olympics live on NBC
Japan got runners on the corners with one out in the ninth inning and scored on a chopper to second with one out, pushing the game into extra innings.
In extras, automatic runners are placed on first and second base to begin each inning. The Americans stranded runners at first and third in the top of the inning to keep the game tied. In the bottom half, Japan used a sacrifice bunt and single to right field to walk it off.
Japan now advances to the semifinal against South Korea, while the U.S. drops to the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament.
Team USA will face the winner of Dominican Republic vs. Israel on Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET with another chance to get to the semifinal.
