▲ Japan National Team starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani


The Japan National Baseball Team has registered its first win at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) thanks to Shohei Ohtani's "one-man show."

Japan won the first leg of Group B of the tournament at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, 1-1 thanks to Ohtani's two-stroke performance.

Japan, which is considered the favorite to win this tournament, will play South Korea, who lost one first, at 8 p.m. on the 1th.

Japan continued their frustrating performance against China, who are considered the weakest teams, only to confirm the victory late in the match.

With Ohtani as the starting pitcher, Japan took the lead in the first inning when leadoff hitter Lars Numba opened the scoring with a bases-loaded hit, striking out three in a row.

However, Japan failed to score an extra run in the ensuing Musa Manru when Masataka Yoshida hit a floater to shortstop and Kazuma Okamoto hit an outfield floater with runners rushing home.

In the fourth inning, after one out, Numba made an error, Kensuke Kondo hit a right-field hit, and Ohtani hit a two-RBI double over the left-center fence for a 1-1 lead.

China's counterattack was also formidable.

China made up one run in the sixth inning when Liang Fei blasted a solo home run to left field against Japan's second pitcher, Shosei Togo.

China was unable to close the score gap in the seventh inning when Nippon Professional Baseball player Yusuke Masago hit a two-run homer, but the follow-up hit did not explode.

Japan, which had a shaky lead, took a breather in the bottom of the seventh inning when Shugo Maki blasted a solo home run to right-center to make it 10-7.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, he batted around and scored four runs to make it 1-3 to tie the game.

Ohtani pitched four innings with five strikeouts and one scoreless inning.

The number of pitches is 4.

As the No. 1 hitter, he led the offense with four hits, two RBIs and two walks.

Japanese pitchers shut down the Chinese batting line with three hits and one run with 2 strikeouts, while Chinese pitchers self-destructed with 2 walks.

(Photo = Yonhap News)