LOS ANGELES — Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria replaced injured Chipper Jones on the United States roster for the semifinal round of the World Baseball Classic.

Longoria was included on the 43-man provisional U.S. roster in January but left off the squad that opened the tournament. USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler said Thursday that the Americans were fortunate to have a player of Longoria's caliber available to fill in for Jones at third base.

"With the opportunity to make a roster change, Evan is too valuable not to have on our club," Seiler said in a statement.

The U.S. will play Sunday at Dodger Stadium against the winner of Thursday night's game between Japan and South Korea.

"Albeit brief, this should be a great opportunity for Longo. He's played a lot this spring so he's definitely ready to compete in that type of environment," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

Last month, the AL champion Rays petitioned to have All-Star pitcher Scott Kazmir removed from Team USA because they were concerned about the risk of injury. Kazmir missed the opening month of the 2008 season with an elbow strain suffered during spring training and then pitched through October because of the playoffs and World Series.

Jones played in four WBC games before the Atlanta Braves slugger left the tournament with a muscle strain in his right side.

During the tournament's second round in Miami, Team USA also lost second baseman Dustin Pedroia (left side), first baseman Kevin Youkilis (sprained left ankle, left Achilles' tendinitis) and reliever Matt Lindstrom (strained right rotator cuff) to injuries.