To Shohei Ohtani, the ‘world class’, the Chinese national team was a very dull opponent. In his World Baseball Classic (WBC) debut match, Ohtani calmed down the Chinese lineup with a perfect pitch.
Ohtani started in the 2023 WBC Round 1 Group B match against China held at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 9th, throwing 49 pitches in 4 innings, scoring 1 hit, 5 strikeouts and no runs.
He faced 13 batters in 4 innings and allowed only one hit, including 10 batters in a row until one out in the 4th inning. It was the contents of a match worthy of Ohtani, which was raging not only in Nippon Professional Baseball, but also in the major leagues.먹튀검증
Ohtani overpowered the Chinese batting line from beginning to end. In front of fast balls ranging from mid-to-late 150 km/h to up to 160 km and sliders of 140 km/h, the bats of Chinese batters continuously cut through the air.
I got it right from the first episode. He struck out Liang Fei, the lead hitter, on a swing in five pitches, and struck out Yang Jin with a shortstop grounder in four pitches. Even Yusuke Masago, a Japanese of Chinese descent, was caught cleanly with a ground ball to third base in two pitches.
The second episode was also a three-way offense. Ohtani, who caught Cheon Cheon with a ground ball to first base after three pitches, turned Rei Chang into a standing strikeout. Ohtani ended the inning with Chao Je-do striking out on a swing after four pitches.
Ohtani handled the first batter, Kou Yongkang, with a shortstop grounder in the third inning. Afterwards, Luo Jinjun’s at-bat missed a hit, but center fielder Lars Nuthba caught it after a sprint. Even Linning was treated as a ground ball to second base, and this time, he committed a third-person offense.
Ohtani’s perfect streak was broken in the 4th inning. After catching lead hitter Liang Fei with a grounder in front of the catcher, Ohtani allowed second hitter Liang Jin to hit to the left for the first and last run of the day.
Ohtani hesitated by throwing two balls to the next hitter, Masago, but soon found his pace. He struck out with two sliders in a row, and on the 5th pitch, he took the timing off with the slider again and struck out.
In the 2nd out and 1st base, even Chuncheon turned around with a looking strikeout and came down the mound. Japan changed its pitcher to Shōsei Dogo at the start of the 5th inning.
Ohtani, who entered the at-bat as the third hitter on the day, also acted as a “solver” with a double that hit the left fence directly from 1 out 1st and 3rd base at the bottom of the 4th inning. Both runners homed on this batted ball to make it 3-0.
Ohtani, who had a walk that paved the way for a run-off in the first at-bat in the first inning and a shortstop grounder in the second at-bat in the second inning, is currently recording 1 hit, 2 RBIs and 1 walk in 2 at-bats.