The star pitcher of Japan, Shohei Ohtani delivered a dream 3-2 victory for his country over the United States on Tuesday as they won the World Baseball Classic for the third time.
Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto’s home run set Japan in the lead before the Los Angeles Angels’ Ohtani closed out the win from the mound in the ninth inning.
Ohtani stood in the LoanDepot Park and sent his Angels teammate and US captain Mike Trout packing to secure Japan’s third WBC victory after winning in 2006 and 2009.
Related: USA VS Japan Live: Mookie Betts to bat against Shota Imanaga
Shohei proved once and for all that he is the better man, which does not come as a surprise as he was the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player, being likened to Babe Ruth since joining Major League Baseball, he said Tuesday’s win was the highlight of his career.
“It’s definitely number one,” Ohtani spoke to FOX television through a translator. “It’s got to be up there. It was a storybook ending.”
“More than anything, I appreciate this tournament, this whole situation, this whole atmosphere,” Ohtani, who was named tournament MVP said.
Before the game began, Ohtani motivated team Japan with an inspiring pre-game speech where he charged his teammates to “stop admiring” Team USA’s lineup even if they were tagged to be the strongest US baseball team to ever gather.
“Obviously, the US lineup, one through nine, they’re all household names, superstars,” Ohtani said after the game.
“All the Japanese guys know them. So I didn’t want us to be passive. Show respect – but stay aggressive, stay confident.
“That’s why I gave that speech.”
The USA team which was fortified by star players, defending champions who won the last WBC tournament in 2017, could not control Japan’s pitchers.
Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies started the US with a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning with a left-field solo shot.
Stranded runners
Japan wasted no time in reciprocating Team USA’s energy; Murakami the hero of Japan’s walk-off win over Mexico during Monday’s semi-final – delivered a home run to right-centre field in the bottom of the second off US starter Merrill Kelly.
That was just the beginning of Kelly’s problems, with the Arizona right-hander conceding singles to Okamoto and Sosuke Genda before he walked Yuhei Nakamura to load the bases.
This spurred Mark DeRosa to pull Kelly, while Aaron Loup was invited to help his team get out of the situation.
Loup left the situation slightly unscathed, with Japan picking up one more run for their 2-1 lead after Lars Nootbaar grounded out to score Okamoto.
Japan extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth when Okamoto sent a fly ball to left field off US reliever Kyle Freeland to change the 2-1 lead to 3-1.
Team USA’s players said they would pull themselves back into contention in the fifth but marooned Mookie Betts and Nolan Arenado on base.
The same thing happened in the top of the seventh when Jeff McNeil took a leadoff walk before Betts singled to leave US runners on first and second with no outs.
Again, the US could not cash in, Trout lined out to right fielder Kensuke Kondoh before a double-play ended the inning.
Hideki Kuriyama the Japan manager nominated Yu Darvish to lock it down in the eighth.
After Darvish sacked Arenado, he was propelled by a monster home run from Kyle Schwarber, who flung a fly ball into the upper tiers to make it a one-run game.
Devin Williams was scoreless for the whole eighth inning, setting up a dream final inning, with Ohtani pitching to close out the game.
Ohtani began by walking towards McNeil nervously, but Betts grounded into a double play that left Japan one out from victory.
This made Ohtani depose Trout to secure the victory, and USA’s captain ran out of swings to end the game.
