Italy stood up, tried, but not in vain have Japan been hung with the black beast poster of the fifth World Classic. The samurai, with impressive coldness, got rid of the Europeans (9-3) and got a direct ticket to Miami for their fifth consecutive semifinal in the biggest baseball show at the national team level, something that no other country has achieved in the history of the event. .
Once again Shohei Ohtani caught the eye with a 4.2-inning start in which he retired 5 via strikes, allowed 4 hits and a couple of runs before giving way to four relievers who kept the electric Italians at bay in the second half of the clash.
Ohtani caused madness among the more than 41,000 fans that packed Tokyo Dome when he climbed on the mound and began to release fireballs. So focused was he that he beat Vinnie Pasquantino’s colors with a 102-mile pitch, the fastest of his career, according to Statcast data.
The right-hander smashed his record (101.4 miles vs. Houston in September of last year) and killed Pasquantino, a major leaguer who averages .316 against fastballs. That endorsement wasn’t enough for the Royals’ first baseman, who went to the bench feeling like he’d been struck by lightning.
Ohtani’s show was huge when it comes to speed. In total, he registered the 29 fastest shipments of the game, 26 of them over 98 miles and 7 that went over 100. As if that were not enough, he also scored the strongest hit (115.4 miles) of the duel, a direct line into the glove of shortstop Nicky Lopez.
The Italians could do little against those smoke fastballs and a diabolical repertoire from the Angels ace, who kept them on the ropes for most of the time, except for a slip in the fifth inning, when they took the opportunity to score 2 times due to a couple of pitches and 2 rockets.
However, by then the samurai had already put the distance behind with a three-run home run by first baseman Kasuma Okamoto. That was the starting point of a sneaky attack by the Japanese, who sometimes give the impression of being asleep before giving you the fatal thrust.
With that formula, they returned to the charge in the fifth and went through the recorder three times with RBI doubles from Munetaka Murakami and again Okamoto, who finished the duel with five RBIs. The icing on the offensive gale was put by Masataka Yoshida (solitary home run in the seventh) and Sosuke Genda, who brought the last one with a rocket to the right.
The rest was taken care of bullpen Japanese, who had a luxury guest. Yu Darvish, star starter for the San Diego Padres, made his first relief appearance after 13 years and 242 major league starts. I agree with you data of MLB, the last time the star played a firefighting role was in 2010, when he was still a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese circuit.
Darvish complied by finishing seventh and eighth, although he allowed a home run by Dominic Fletcher, the first for the Italian team in the Classic. The rest was taken care of by closer Taisai Ota, who got the last three outs and sealed the ticket for the samurai direct to Miami, site of the semifinals.
In this instance, Japan will face the winner of the quarterfinal duel between Mexico and Puerto Rico, two of the baseball powers of America. The Puerto Ricans fight to reach their third consecutive final in the Classics and the Aztecs to be included among the big four for the first time.
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