Ohtani Shohei (28) drove the Italian line with a 164km/h fastball. However, he left a regret by allowing 2 runs in the top of the 5th inning.
Ohtani played as a starting pitcher and third hitter in the match against Italy in the 2023 WBC round 2 (quarterfinals) held at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 16th.
On the mound, Ohtani recorded 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts and 2 runs in 4.2 innings. After recording a scoreless run against China with 1 hit and 5 strikeouts in 4 innings, he pitched well for 2 consecutive games.
In the top of the first inning, Ohtani struck out opponent table setters Sal Frerick and Nick Lopez with a swing miss and a ground ball to third base, respectively. Afterwards, Dominic Fletcher allowed a heavy hit, but Brett Sullivan induced a ground ball to second base to end the inning without a run.
Riding the momentum, Ohtani struck out lead batter Vinny Pasquantino on a six-pitch swing in the top of the second inning. The 6th pitch thrown to Pasquantino was a 102 mph (164.15 km) fastball.
This was higher than Ohtani’s MLB record. Ohtani left 101.4 miles per hour (163 km/h) against Kyle Tucker against the Houston Astros in September last year.
Ohtani, who caught the flow, then put Miles Mestroboni to sleep with a first baseman ground ball. Vito Fricia also struck out on a swing and finished the top of the second inning. Then, until the beginning of the 3rd inning, he tied the Italian line with a three-way offense.
Ohtani, who was cruising, was hit to the left by Lopez, the lead batter, in the top of the 4th inning. Afterwards, he struck out Dominic Fletcher and Sullivan in a row, but gave up a walk to Pasquantino, putting him in a crisis with 2 out on 1st and 2nd base. 메이저놀이터
Ohtani allowed Mestroboni a big hit to the left field in a crisis of despair, but he overcame the crisis with a big hit to Masataka Yoshida.
After one out in the top of the 5th inning, Ohtani allowed 1st and 3rd bases on right-handed hits from Ben DeRugio and David Fletcher. However, he handled Frerick with a short fly to center field, but gave Lopez a fit ball to make the bases loaded with two outs.
In the second crisis, Ohtani scored 2 runs with 2 RBIs and a right-handed hit from Dominic Fletcher. In the end, Ohtani handed over the mound to Ito Hiromi and finished the mound for the day. Ohtani’s earned runs did not increase as Ito did not let Ohtani’s runner in.
Meanwhile, Japan leads Italy 4-2 as of the bottom of the 5th amid Ohtani’s good pitching.