March 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela stunned Japan 8-5 to ⁠eliminate the defending champions from the World Baseball Classic quarter-finals on Saturday, while Italy also advanced ⁠to the last four by beating Puerto Rico 8-6.

Venezuela's Ronald Acuna Jr hit a solo ‌home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the first inning in Miami but Shohei Ohtani answered immediately with a solo shot off Ranger Suarez.