Field Level Media
12 Mar 2023, 01:19 GMT+10
Rori Sasaki struck out eight and Japan overpowered the Czech Republic for a 10-2 victory on Saturday in the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo.
Sasaki was dominant, clocking 21 of his 66 total pitches at or above 100 mph according to the radar gun shown on the TV broadcast.
Japan moved to 3-0 in Pool B and is assured a spot in the quarterfinals.
Pitching on the 12th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that claimed the life of his father and grandparents, Sasaki, 21, allowed two hits and one run.
Marek Chlup doubled and scored in the first inning on a fielding error to give the Czech Republic (1-1) the 1-0 lead.
Japan's offense, kept off-balance by Ondrej Satoria's diet of off-speed pitches and a fastball that never hit 80 mph, finally broke through with three runs in the third inning.
Shohei Ohtani's one-out RBI double helped charge a four-run fourth. Ohtani also stole third base.
Satoria had four strikeouts and left with a memorable souvenir. He fanned Ohtani, who spun himself to the ground and lost his helmet.
Japan can complete a perfect 4-0 run through pool play by beating Australia on Sunday.
--Field Level Media
Get a daily dose of Long Beach Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Long Beach Star.
More InformationMoscow is benefitting from high oil prices, the former US president has saidSoaring energy prices have boosted Russia's revenues, while ...
Autumn rains may prevent Ukraine from using Western-supplied heavy tanks, the outlet has warnedUkraine's faltering counteroffensive spells serious danger for ...
Robert Fico has vowed to cut off Slovakia's aid to Ukraine if electedRobert Fico's Slovak Social Democracy is set to ...
Israel finalized a $3.5 billion deal on Thursday to sell its cutting-edge Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany as ...
TAIPEI, TAIWAN - A bold move by the Philippine coast guard this week to publicly cut loose a floating barrier ...
Yaounde, Cameroon - Gabon's prime minister says international sanctions and pressure for a return to constitutional order could be devastating ...
EL PASO, Texas: Over the weekend, Oscar Leeser, Mayor of El Paso, said that the surge in migrants crossing the ...
HONG KONG: This week, Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was sentenced to five days jail for ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: In an interview with Reuters this week, U.S. commander General Chance Saltzman said the United States Space Force ...
As it did last year, the 2023 United Nations General Assembly has been debating what role the United Nations and ...
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: Authorities said that Greg Lawson, who fled his 1991 trial in Louisiana for attempted murder 32 years ...
OTTAWA, Canada: During a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Canada's capital, Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ...