How Shohei Ohtani, Japan advanced to WBC semifinals

Shohei Ohtani made his presence known when he struck out the first batter of Japan’s 9-3 win over Italy in a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game Thursday, but that wasn’t his most exciting strikeout of his outing.

That belonged to his strikeout of Vinnie Pasquantino in the second inning, which came on a 102-mph fastball. That pitch was the fastest he’s thrown since signing with the Angels in 2018. His previous fastest pitch was clocked at 101.4 mph, which he threw Sept.

10, 2022, against the Houston Astros. Ohtani had thrown a 102.5-mph fastball before, when he was still playing for the Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters in Nippon Professional Baseball.

But Ohtani’s command faltered in the fifth inning, after he hit two batters and gave up two hits and two earned runs, which prompted Samurai Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama to pull him from his outing before he could get out of the inning.

Though he remained in the game as the designated hitter, Ohtani’s final line for his start included five strikeouts, four hits, a walk and 71 pitches thrown in 4 2/3 innings. At the plate, Ohtani went 1 for 4 with two runs scored and a walk, and struck out once. Ohtani is hitting .438 (7 for 16) with a home run, three doubles and eight RBIS along with a 2.08 ERA, 10 strikeouts and one walk on the mound while winning both of his starts in the WBC.

Ohtani would be available on four days’ rest to pitch in a possible final on Tuesday in Miami, though he’s never pitched on four days’ rest in his MLB career.

“When we see Shohei playing, not only the players but also the Japanese baseball fans, all the nation is feeling something extra,” Kuriyama told reporters after the game, adding: “These kind of moments, this is how I feel the sense of Ohtani. This is Shohei. This is Shohei. When he plays a must-win game like tonight, we see who Shohei is.”

For Japan, it is the fifth time the nation has advanced to the semifinals of the WBC and is the only team to make the semifinals of every edition of the tournament. Japan, which has outscored opponents 47-11 in five games in this year’s WBC, won the tournament in 2006 and 2009, but lost in the semifinals to Puerto Rico in 2013 and the U.S. in 2017.

Japan will face the winner of Puerto Rico and Mexico, which plays Friday, in a semifinal game in Miami on Monday.