<Anchor>
Japan in the
same group as us in the WBC defeated Australia to advance to the round of 4 with four straight wins. Shortstop star Ohtani led Japan to victory with four RBIs, including a three-run home run.

Yoo Byung-min is a reporter.

<Reporter>

Japan pushed Australia from the start.

On a no-out first and second base opportunity in the first inning made up of walks and hits, Ohtani hit a three-run home run over the right-field fence of the Tokyo Dome off a slow curve from Australian starter Sherif.

With a distance of 8 meters and a terrifying 3 km/h, he hit his first home run of the tournament as the final shot.

After running away with a 4-1 lead on back-to-back timely hits by Numba and Kondo in the second inning, Japan split the game early on Ohtani's walk-off walk in the fourth inning and Nakamura's timely hit in the fifth.

Japanese starter Yamamoto led the way with one hit, eight strikeouts and a scoreless inning in four innings.

Japan beat Australia 1-2 to snap a four-game winning streak to become the first team in Group B to advance to the last eight.

In Group A, there was an upset.

Italy beat the Netherlands 3-120 on the back of big leaguer starter Matt Harvey's two-run homer, giving all five nations in Group A a 182-2.

Cuba and Italy, who conceded the fewest goals, made it to the top eight, while the Netherlands finished third and were eliminated.

(Video editing by So Ji-hye)