Venezuela, one of the most talented teams in the World Baseball Classic, needed 10 innings and sustained two injuries in an 11-10 win over Italy on Saturday.

The final three innings of the 4-hour-44-minute game produced two lead changes and two ties. Martin Prado smacked a go-ahead double in the top of the 10th. Jose Castillo, Venezuela’s ninth pitcher, closed out the win, which saved his team from first-round elimination.

“I didn’t know they played baseball like that in Italy,” Venezuela Manager Omar Vizquel said. “I tip my cap to them.”

The lasting image was an odd sequence in the ninth. Venezuela’s Francisco Rodriguez, the Detroit Tigers’ closer, gave up a tying single to Italy’s Gavin Cecchini. Rodriguez fielded a throw into the infield, flipped the ball home and then fell, writhing on the ground.

At the plate, Drew Butera slid into catcher Salvador Perez’s left leg. Butera is Perez’s backup on the Kansas City Royals.

Rodriguez may have pulled a groin muscle, Vizquel said. Later, the Venezuelan team said that a magnetic resonance imaging test on Perez’s knee revealed only inflammation but that he would miss the rest of the tournament.

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