Ohtani hooks Trout as Japan takes WBC title
There is a new champion of the baseball world.
Japan defeated defending champion Team USA 3-2 in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday night at loanDepot Park in Miami, Fla.
In the end, it came down to arguably the two biggest superstars of the tournament, a teammate against a teammate. Japan called on Shohei Ohtani to close out a 3-2 game in the top of the ninth inning. After getting Mookie Betts to ground into a double play, in stepped Ohtani’s Angels’ teammate Mike Trout.
After working a 3-2 count, Trout went down swinging on a slider for the final out, as poetic of an ending as the baseball gods could have written up.
After all the debate about the Americans’ pitching, it was their lineup that failed to answer the call in the biggest moment. The loaded lineup that featured nine All-Stars was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position as a series of Japanese pitchers that included Yu Darvish kept the United States at bay.
The only offense of the night came from the Phillies on the club. Trea Turner slugged a solo homer in the second inning — his fifth homer of the tournament which ties a WBC record. Kyle Schwarber also blasted a solo shot in the top of the eighth to bring the United States to within a run cutting the deficit to
3-2, however, it was all Mark DeRosa’s club had to offer for the night.
Merrill Kelly was the starter and was the man who surrendered the most damage to Japan. Kelly tosses 11⁄3 innings allowed two earned runs one from a Muneteka Murakami 115.1 mph 432-foot blast in the bottom of the second inning.
Murakami blasted 56 homers in the Japanese Central League and figures to be highly sought by MLB teams once he is posted potentially a few years from now.
Kyle Freeland took a chunk of the workload after Kelly didn’t provide much length for the Americans. The Rockies’ southpaw tossed three frames allowing one homer to Kazuma Okamoto, which ended up being the deciding factor as the third run.
Jason Adam, David Bednar and Devin Williams tossed three scoreless frames for the United States to finish off the strong pitching performance.
The next World Baseball Classic will take place in 2026. The United States put together a historically talented team — albeit they came up short — however, the team could look vastly different in three years.
Paul Goldschmidt will be 38 years old, Nolan Arenado will be 34 as the two returners from the 2017 championship team may not be in the plans of the future tournament.
And with superstars such as Jose Altuve and Edwin Diaz sustaining serious injuries, how willingly AllStars are to compete — and how enthusiastic their teams are about sending them — in future tournaments will be something to keep an eye on.