Mexico - 000 300 020 - 5 9 0As Munetaka Murakami walked to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, with the tying run at second and the winning run on first, Japan's 22-year-old third baseman likely wanted to consider this moment his first at-bat of the game. Banish from his mind all thoughts of his four previous trips to the plate: three strikeouts and a foul popup, a heavy 0-for-4 collar that dropped his WBC average down to .190.
Japan - 000 000 312 - 6 10 0
But here was a final chance for redemption – and an opportunity to send his team to the WBC championship game for the third time in five tournaments. Mexico held the slimmest of leads, 5-4, and Giovanny Gallegos needed only three outs to put the finishing touches on what would be a very surprising upset. But Gallegos's first pitch was hammered to the wall in right-center by Shohei Ohtani for a double and Masataka Yoshida (the Red Sox's big winter acquisition who kickstarted Japan's stagnant offense with a game-tying three-run dinger in the seventh) walked on five pitches.
Murakami (more about his 2022 season below) fouled off the first pitch and took a ball before launching a drive to deep left-center. I thought it had a chance to go out, but I was likely truped by my excitement. The ball hit off the wall about halfway up. Ohtani scored and when pinch-runner Ukyo Shuto came sliding across the plate with the winning run . . . it was pandemonium. (The Tokyo Broadcasting Systems announcers were certainly upbeat. MLB.com's hot take: This was the greatest game in World Baseball Classic history.)
Japan will play the United States in the WBC championship game on Tuesday evening. The six runs scored on Monday is the lowest total for Japan's offense in the tournament and the five runs allowed the highest number of opponents runs. They have won 8-1, 13-4, 10-2, 7-1, 9-3, and 6-5.
Both starters – Mexico's Patrick Sandoval (4.1-4-0-1-6, 66) and Japan's Roki Sasaki (4-5-3-0-3, 64) – look sharp through three innings. The hard-throwing Sasaki began the game with a 101 mph pea to Randy Arozarena and put him away with a 102 heater. Sandoval couldn't match that velocity, but he struck out the side in the first, walking off the hill after getting Ohtani to look at a strike-three slider.
Sasaki relied more heavily on off-speed stuff in the second inning, but after giving up a pair of one-out singles, he went back to the gas and got Alan Trejo to hit into a double play. Both pitchers turned in clean third innings.
Sasaki retired the first two batters in the fourth on six pitches and was ahead of Rowdy Tellez 0-2 when Tellez poked an opposite-field single to left against the shift (which remains legal in the WBC). Isaac Paredes reached base when his popup into short left fell out of the reach of Murakami's glove. Then Luis Urías clubbed a 403-foot home run to left, giving Mexico a 3-0 lead.
Japan's first ten batters did not hit the ball out of the infield (five of them didn't hit the ball at all), but on the second time through the lineup, they started showing some life. Kensuke Kondoh singled to right with one out and Yoshida lined a single to left with two down. Murakami came up with a chance to bop a three-run dong of his own, but he was schooled by Sandoval with four sliders and was called out on strikes.
Kazuma Okamoto opened the fifth with a long drive to left. It certainly had home run distance. Arozarena drifted back onto the warning track, felt for the wall, and then leapt, his glove reaching over and beyond the wall. When he came down, it was unclear whether the play was an out or a home run. And Arozarena wasn't helping to clear things up. He was standing at the base of the wall, facing the infield, as still and emotionless as a statute. His face gave nothing away.
Should Okamoto start his home run trot or go back to his dugout? Arozarena did not move a muscle for more than five seconds – a long time, considering the context – before finally pulling the baseball out of his glove and chucking it back to the infield.
The robbery did not phase Japan, however. Tetsuto Yamada lined a first-pitch single to right and Sosuke Genda worked an eight-pitch walk. That was the end of Sandoval's night and José Urquidy took over. (During the pitching change, Arozarena signed at least one autograph at the wall.) Pinch-hitter Shugo Maki grounded to short and Lars Nootbaar walked (after falling behind 0-2). The bases were loaded for Kondoh, who jumped on the first pitch and sent it to deep left. This fly ball was much less dramatic. It carried to the track and Arozarena recorded the third out.
The sixth inning offered more of the same, multiple baserunners but no payoff. Ohtani led off with a single and was forced at second by Yoshida. Murakami fanned on an 87-mph changeup down the middle. But then Urquidy got wild, walking Okamoto and (after a mound meeting) Yamada. Bases loaded once again. Genda lifted a fly down the left field line. Arozarena sprinted over and made another inning-ending catch. Japan had left eight men on base in the last three innings.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had relieved Sasaki in the fifth and cruised through three innings, allowing only two walks and not letting the ball out of the infield. He was aided by an overturned call that ended the seventh. Trejo walked with one out and took off for second as Alek Thomas struck out. The throw from catcher Takuya Kai* was on target, but the umpire (Jong Chui Park) called the runner safe. Japan asked for a review and during the lengthy deliberation, all of the various television replays, from six or seven angles, were inconclusive, each one failing to show some key part of the slide and tag. It was impossible to tell if the call was correct, but if forced to rule, I would have said safe. The lack of a clear angle made this a textbook example of inconclusive or unavailable evidence leading to a decision to go with the original call. So, of course, the call was overturned. The runner was out and the inning was over.
*: I asked my dog (napping next to the couch) if this guy was her favourite player, but she barely opened her eyes to look at me.
Was Japan energized by the caught stealing call that kept the score at 3-0? It was hard to tell as Kai was overmatched on a high 1-2 fastball and Nootbaar lined out to Arozarena in left-center. The Rays star was zipping around everywhere; it was his fourth nice catch in three innings which prompted announcer Yonder Alonso to proclaim that Arozarena "had hit a grand slam on defense, basically". Which, I should not have to tell you, is not a thing and has never been a thing in all of baseball history, basically.
One thing I forgot to mention in my rant after Sunday's US-Cuba game: Both Alonso and play-by-play guy Dave Flemming were blatantly and obnoxiously pro-US during the entire game. I would not have expected any different, but these guys were employed as the announcers for the WBC's international feed. Thus, they are being broadcast everywhere in the entire world EXCEPT the United States. Considering the low opinion of the US (the country) in many parts of the world, I can't imagine too many international viewers enjoyed those cheerleading antics.
Anyhoo, two outs for Japan in the bottom of the seventh and no one on base. But wait! Kondoh lined a single over the second baseman into right. Mexico made a pitching change, bringing in JoJo Romero (At Chez Sock, we asked, "Shouldn't his name be pronounced HoHo?") Romero pitched around Ohtani, walking him on five pitches (he threw a strike on 3-0). He then went to 2-2 on Yoshida and threw a pitch down and in. Yoshida golfed it high and deep to right. The ball stayed fair – and the game was tied at 3-3. Yoshida's 13 RBI set a new single-tournament WBC record.
That home run began a flurry of action and runs that extended to the end of the game. In the top of the eighth, facing Yamamoto, Arozarena doubled over Kondoh's head to the wall in right. Alex Verdugo knocked Yamamoto's next pitch into the left-center field gap for another two-bagger, giving Mexico a 4-3 lead. Joey Meneses followed with a grounder to shallow left. Pinch-runner Jarren Duran (the third Boston player in this game) stopped at third. Atsuki Yuasa came in from the pen and struck out Tellez with a changeup in the dirt. Paredes singled to left. Duran scored, but Meneses was gunned down at the plate on a strong throw from Yoshida in left. Only a few minutes after erasing a three-run deficit, Japan found themselves down by two.
Facing Japan in the bottom of the eighth, Jesus Cruz hit Okamoto with his first pitch. Takumu Nakano pinch-ran and took second on Yamada's hit to left. Genda bunted foul twice before laying down a successful sacrifice, putting runners at second and third. Hotaka Yamakawa lifted a fly ball to left. Arozarena caught it, but Nakano scored, cutting Mexico's lead to 5-4. New pitcher Gerardo Reyes walked Nootbaar before striking out Kondoh with an 0-2 fastball at the knees.
Mexico went quietly against Taisei Ota in the top of the ninth. Urias flied to right. Trejo popped to short left and Genda, the shortstop, made an excellent over the shoulder grab as he was sinking to his knees. Thomas was hit by a pitch, but Austin Barnes struck out.
Down to their last three outs, trailing by a single run, Japan faced Gallegos in the last of the ninth. Ohtani doubled and was extremely fired up at second, screaming encouragement at his dugout. Gallegos's first three pitches to Yoshida were up, inside, and low. I was hoping he'd go away on the fourth offering – what I like to call a grand slam of non-strike pitches – but he got the 3-0 over before missing up again. He might have been pitching around Yoshida, but putting the potential game-losing run on first base seems like a risky plan. Either way, Japan had two on and Murakami wasted little time in bringing them home.
When Murakami first batted in the second inning, an on-screen graphic showed him leading the Japan Central League in five or six batting stats last year. 56 home runs (breaking Sadaharu Oh's 1964 single-season record of 55). 134 RBI. 1.168 OPS. It was impressive.
After the game, I took a closer look at his 2022 numbers and holy shit he absolutely defuckingstroyed the league by a margin that immediately reminded me of how Babe Ruth outpaced both leagues in the early 1920s like he had arrived from outer space. Check this out:
He was #1 with 56 home runs. The #2 guy hit 30.
He was #1 with 114 runs scored. The #2 guy had 83.
He was #1 with 134 RBI. The #2 guys had 87.
He was #1 with 118 walks. The #2 guy had 80. The #3 guy had 60.
He was #1 with 346 total bases. The #2 guys had 258.
He was #1 with 25 intentional walks. The #2 guy had 9.
He was #1 with a .318 batting average. This was close, with other guys hitting .315, .314, and .312.
He was #1 with a .458 on-base average. The #2 guy was at .378.
He was #1 with a .771 slugging average. The #2 guy was at .550. Only five batters were over .500.
He was #1 with a 1.168 OPS. The #2 guy was at .904. The #3 guy was at .861.
He was also #4 in hits and #8 in stolen bases.
That. Is. Completely. Nuts.
Comments on the Announcers: I made only one note about Dave Flemming; see below. Yonder Alonso was a problem, unable to shut his yap and let the game breathe, especially the last two innings. This game is tense, right? I don't fuckin know, because you won't stop chattering away, cramming pointless babble into every possible moment of quiet. Alonso spoke so loudly during the early innings, I wondered if he thought he was in danger of being drowned out by the crowd, even though his microphone was three inches from his mouth. He has a bad habit of beginning many of his sentences with "Look . . ." or "I mean, look . . ." I don't think it's peculiar to him.
He also talked about how a pitcher should "go soft" or "go hard", meaning rely on his fastball or his off-speed stuff. To wit: "Sasaki has been soft this inning, but he might want to consider going hard here." The first few times Alonso said a pitcher should "get hard" or "I'd stay hard with him [the batter]", I wondered what his producer was saying in his ear.
Alonso claimed (twice) that "rallies usually start at the bottom of the order". I'm skeptical of this claim – it sounds too much like McCarverian idiocy ("all leadoff walks score" and "a leadoff walk scores more often than a leadoff single", both of which are not true) – and I'm certain Alonso has no evidence to back him up.
But how would a curious fan go about finding what batting order # most often starts a rally. First of all, how many runs constitutes a "rally"? Three? Four? You might be able to learn which batting spot began the most innings with 4+ runs, but the leadoff guy might make an out before the rally actually begins. Also, can you rally when you are already leading in the game? And if most rallies actually do start at the bottom of the order, shouldn't managers put their worst hitters at the top of the lineup so they have the most chances to start those rallies?
In the bottom of the ninth, after Ohtani led off with a first-pitch double, Alonso said Ohtani had a "pre-set determined swing" in that at-bat, meaning (I guess) he thought Ohtani would have swung at anything. Doubtful. When Murakami came up, Flemming pointed out that "he's looking very hitterish". What the fuck does that mean? He was holding a bat, but if that was the give-away, then every batter in the game looked "hitterish".
Baseball is full of mysteries.
If Japan wins tonight, it will advance to its third WBC championship game in five touraments and meet the United States on Tuesday. Japan won the first two touraments in 2006 and 2009 before finishing third in 2013 and 2017.
In this tournament, Japan is 5-0 and has outscored its opponents 47-11. If we plug those numbers into the most basic form of ye olde Pythagorean expectation, we learn that with those runs scored and runs allowed, a team would be expected to win 94.8% of its games, which works out (over 162 games) to a record of 154-8!
Rōki Sasaki, Japan's 21-year-old fireballer, will be tonight's starter. ESPN called him "potentially the best pitcher in the world who's not in the major leagues" and The Sporting News placed atop its list of "the best non-MLB players in the world".
You might remember Sasaki from two JoS posts from last April:
Japanese Pitcher Roki Sasaki, 20, Throws Perfect Game, Striking Out 19 (Including 13 In A Row)
April 11, 2022Rōki Sasaki's Streak Of 52 Consecutive Batters Retired Ends On First Pitch Of April 24 Start
April 28, 2022
Sasaki threw 3.2 innings against the Czech Republic, striking out eight. He threw 66 pitches, 21 of which topped 100+ mph. One heater, clocked at 101.9, drilled Willie Escala in the leg. Sasaki presented him with two bags of candy the following day as part of an apology.
I assumed Shohei Ohtani would start on Tuesday if Japan meets the US in the championship game, but it sounds like he will not. There is the possibility of Ohtani coming out of the bullpen. But Japan has to first push past Mexico, which is making its first appearance in the WBC semifinals. The Angels' Patrick Sandoval will be the first man on the mound for Mexico. He is not related to Pablo.
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