TOKYO -- The defending champs and the most talented baseball player on the planet make for a dangerous combination. On Friday night, Samurai Japan began its World Baseball Classic title defense, taking on a Chinese Taipei team that upset it in the 2024 Premier12 tournament.
This time, with a roster led by Shohei Ohtani and a bevy of big league stars, the team asserted its dominance in a 13-0 win. After Ohtani led off the game with a double, Chinese Taipei walked a tightrope before stranding him at third.
Ohtani wouldn’t let that happen again.
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In the top of the second inning, Japan’s lineup got things going. New White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami drew a walk to lead off the frame, Shugo Maki singled and Sosuke Genda was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After Kenya Wakatsuki popped out, Ohtani came up to the plate for his second at-bat.
He waited four pitches before launching starter Hao-Chun Cheng’s 2-1 curveball into the right-field seats -- showing off Japan’s new matcha whisking celebration as he rounded the bases. It was a four-run dagger, but the damage was only beginning.
"[Koki] Kitayama really put a lot of thought into coming up with that idea, so I’ll keep doing my best to continue making that gesture," Ohtani said.
“As one united team, this is a very nice way for the team to bond,” manager Hirokazu Ibata said earlier this week. “I wish we could drink 10 or 20 teas per game.”
He almost got his wish.
With two outs, Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida then drove in the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki with a double before Murakami came back up and singled in Yoshida.
Taipei manager Hao-Jiu Tseng then went to the bullpen, bringing in Chih-Wei Hu, but the bleeding didn’t stop. Genda hit a two-run single, Wakatsuki drove in another run and Ohtani – up to bat for the third time in just two innings, hit an RBI single to push the lead to 10-0 before Kensuke Kondo grounded out to end the outburst.
In total, 15 batters came to the plate, with the team rapping out seven hits, drawing four walks and taking one HBP. Japan set the record for most runs in a single inning in World Baseball Classic history, topping the nine runs that Team USA scored against Canada in the first inning in the 2023 Classic and that Cuba put on the board against Mexico in '09.
"That was the inning that really decided the game," Ohtani said. "After scoring the first few runs, we kept our focus and worked some walks, so I think we managed the game well from there. Overall, I think it was a good game."
Ohtani’s five RBIs in a single inning also set a WBC record. Is there anything he can’t do?
The scoring didn’t stop then, either. Japan put up three runs in the third inning on Kazuma Okamoto’s RBI single and a two-run knock from Genda -- a player who is in the lineup more for his glove than his bat.
While the plan was for starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get through three innings, he was lifted with two outs in the third inning after Chinese Taipei loaded the bases. Shoma Fujihara then came in from the bullpen and struck out An-Ko Lin to end the Chinese Taipei threat.
With the early lead, there was a chance that Japan could break Korea’s record for most runs in a World Baseball Classic game and the biggest margin of victory, which it set in a 22-2 victory against China in 2023. Though Japan may not have set every offensive record, it’ll be plenty happy with how the contest ended.
Chinese Taipei will now return to play Czechia on Friday night at 10 p.m. ET (noon local time, Saturday, FS2) with the two teams now battling to avoid playing in a Qualifier before the next tournament. Japan next plays rival Korea on Saturday at 5 a.m. ET on FS1 (7 p.m. local time).
"We’ll continue to play against great teams," Ohtani said about facing Korea, "so we should all go home early, get a good night’s sleep and prepare ourselves well for those games."