*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
Action in the WBC is really starting to heat up. Kazuma Okamoto drove in 5 runs, Shohei Ohtani starred on the mound, and team Japan defeated team Italy on Thursday morning in Tokyo.
The win sends Japan to the WBC semifinals in Miami after playing the first game of the quarterfinal round. After going undefeated in pool play, Japan is now off to the US for the semifinal round, and with the Dominican Republic knocked out, Japan has one less team in their way for a title.
Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said of the win that "There's a large gap, like a 9-3 score, but no matter who pitched to Team Italy, they almost never swing and miss. They swing really hard. It was a tough game from the beginning. Like I mentioned yesterday or the day before, this game was an all-in game."
Masataka Yoshida got Japan on the board in the 3rd inning with a groundout that plated Kensuke Kondoh to make it 1-0. Later in the inning, Okamoto blasted a 3 run home run to left field, opening the lead up to 4-0. In the top of the 5th inning, David Fletcher and Ben DeLuzio scored on a two run single from Dominic Fletcher, getting Italy on the board to make it a 4-2 game.
Munetaka Murakami hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 5th, scoring Ohtani to make it a 5-2 game. Yoshida and Murakami then scored on a double from Okamoto to make it a 7-2 lead. Yoshida hit a solo home run and Sosuke Genda hit an RBI single in the 7th to make it a 9-2 game. Dominic Fletcher hit a solo shot in the 8th inning to make the score 9-3, which went final.
Team Italy manager Mike Piazza said that "You need momentum to come back from a deficit like that. You need two or three hits, a walk and then maybe a big hit and, that's what you need. But again, that's putting ourselves in a hole which is difficult. It's just a very difficult task to come back like that."
Two way superstar Ohtani started the game for Japan, allowing two runs on 4 hits and a walk over 4 2/3 innings, striking out 5 hitters. Hiromi Itoh finished the 5th for Japan before Shota Imanaga worked the 6th inning. Yu Darvish then pitched two innings before Taisei Ota closed out the game.
Ryan Castellani started for Italy, pitching two scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. Joe LaSorsa took the loss after allowing 4 runs in one inning pitched. Andre Pallante, Vinny Nittoli, Joey Marciano, Matt Festa, and Mitchell Stumpo also pitched for Italy in relief.
Piazza said of the quarterfinal loss that "We knew this was probably going to be the toughest game of the tournament. We felt like if we would have won this game we probably would have a good shot of winning the whole tournament because of the difficulty of this game, but it is what it is and we wish Japan well in Miami, my hometown, so I hope they have a good series."
Up next, Puerto Rico and Mexico square off in a quarterfinal game on Friday in Miami, with the winner taking on Japan on Monday night in Miami.
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