TOKYO — At risk of facing what would have been a devastating loss, the hosts and defending World Baseball Classic champions Japan escaped with an 8-6 win over Korea on Saturday inside the Tokyo Dome.
Powered by four home runs, including one from Shohei Ohtani and two from Seiya Suzuki, Japan overcame a three-run deficit and a late push by their Asian counterparts, improving to 2-0 in pool play and essentially sealing a berth into the quarterfinals.
Japan was facing a dire situation just five pitches into the game, as Samurai starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed three hits and a run in the blink of an eye. The two on base would come around to score on a double misplayed by the center fielder Suzuki, who let the ball dribble past him on an ill-conceived heroic diving attempt.
All three of the tournament’s powerhouses faced adversity within the last day. The Dominican Republic needed a late push to escape Nicaragua in a 12-3 win that was tied in the sixth inning. Similarly, the United States entered the ninth up only three runs on Brazil, the tournament’s least experienced team. They went on to win 15-5 in a score that was somewhat deceptive.
The WBC has been chalky, but challenging, and could signal some drama to come. Japan needed to work hard against a Korean team that was saving its best pitching for their final two games of Pool C, playing the odds of advancing instead of going all out to upset the hosts.
It was Ohtani that brought Japan back, with his game-tying home run in the third that erased an early deficit in a game they would never trail again – though Korea lingered. Two batters later, Suzuki would go yard for the second time in the game, and Masataka Yoshida gave Japan some breathing room with a homer right after Suzuki had touched the plate.
Homers have been flying out of the hitter-friendly Tokyo Dome. Ohtani knocked a grand slam to start off Japan’s title defense on Friday night. His two long balls surpass the one he hit in his legendary inaugural WBC from 2023, when he also pitched 9 ⅔ innings to a sub-two ERA. Even the light-hitting Korean infielder Hyesong Kim, a teammate of Ohtani’s on the Dodgers, knocked one over the wall to tie it at 5-5 in the fifth inning.
That score held until the seventh, when Suzuki drove in his fourth run with a bases-loaded walk, and Yoshida drove in his second and third runs with a two-run single.
Japan can probably purchase plane tickets to Miami, needing just one win over Australia or the already-eliminated Czechia to make that official. Korea is still in a strong position to advance, with a critical game against the Aussies on Monday that could ultimately decide who prevails. Japan’s win also keeps the door ajar for Chinese Taipei, who will need a win over Korea, two Australia losses, and some run-differential tiebreakers to go their way in order to pull off the miracle.
The hosts improve to 30-8 all-time in WBC history, as they seek their fourth tournament championship. They have now survived their first real test.