- Japan’s offense woke up in the seventh inning
Japan defeated Mexico 6-5 after leaving it on the field and qualified for the World Baseball Classic final at Loan Depot Park in Miami. The Japanese team will face the United States on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 pm at the Miami Marlins park.
The Japanese team came back from behind in the last inning after losing 5-4, because with three consecutive hits they made two runs. The hero of the Asian team was Munetaka Murakami.
The game began with a pitching duel between 21-year-old Roki Sasaki and 26-year-old left-hander Patrick Sandoval. the first three innings they went hitless for both teams.
Sasaki threw a 101-mph fastball on the first pitch. In the first three innings he threw 20 fastballs averaging 100.5 mph.
A duel of pitching and home runs
In the fourth chapter, Mexico knew how to hurt the star Sasaki. After two outs, Rowdy Tellez had a hit and Isaac Paredes followed with another hit.
And the turn was for Luis Urías who hit a cutter who went out at 103.2 miles per hour and covered 403 feet to put Mexico up on the board 3-0. Urías also drove in the run in the 5-4 win over Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals.
Sandoval finished his performance with 4 innings labor, allowed 4, gave 1 walk and struck out 4 batters. The Mexican left-hander made a total of 66 pitches, with 46 in strikes.
Japan tried to respond with a serious threat in the sixth round. The leadoff hitter hit a hard ball to left field that was destined for a home run, but Randy Arozarena caught it to rob the Japanese team of a home run.
In the same inningthe Japanese loaded the bases, but again Arozarena caught a long fly ball to end the hopes of the two-time tournament champions.
Japan’s hope
But the scoring opened in the seventh episode for the Asians. With two out, Masakata Yoshida hit a three-run home run that tied the score at 3-3 and revived Japan’s hopes.
Yoshida is the tournament’s RBI leader with 13 and set the record for most RBIs in a single tournament in World Baseball Classic history.
Mexico knew how to respond immediately in the eighth chapter and take the lead again on the scoreboard. Back-to-back doubles by Randy Arozarena and Alex Verdugo took the 4-3 lead.
Isaac Paredes had another hit that drove in Jarred Duran to make it 5-3 and they were out in the home to Joey Meneses who didn’t let the Mexicans get away.
Japan discounted a run in the bottom of the eighth chapter and reached the ninth inning con Shohei Ohtani, Masataka Yoshida and Munetaka Murakami.
Precisely the latter gave the hit to leave the field with a long double that propelled Shohei Ohtani and Yoshida to advance to the final.