World Baseball Classic Day 3: Samurai Japan’s commanding position

The Asian half of the World Baseball Classic bracket now has a clear front-runner, and it’s Japan.

The Pool B hosts cemented their “most-likely-to-succeed” profile Friday with a thorough 13-4 dispatching of potential rival Korea at the Tokyo Dome. The team known as “Samurai Japan” now needs only to polish off Australia or the Czech Republic this weekend to ensure advancement; they’ll be heavily favored in both games.

World Baseball Classic: Japan dominates Korea

As is usually the case, DH/pitcher Shohei Ohtani played a starring role Friday. He was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, although Ohtani’s impact on scoring was limited to the two times he touched home plate and the one run he drove in.

Probably the game’s key hit was delivered by the team’s Viking Samurai, Lars Nootbaar. The St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, who qualifies to play for Japan because of his mother’s heritage, helped the Pool B hosts rally from an early 3-0 deficit with a run-scoring single that ignited a four-run third inning. It was one of Nootbaar’s two hits and set his team on course to score 13 of the game’s next 14 runs.

Nootbaar dominated the battle of the Cardinals ex-pats. His summer MLB teammate, second baseman Tommy Edman of Team Korea, was hitless in four at-bats.

From an American baseball standpoint, the most impactful performance was turned in by a guy who’s never played a game on this side of the Pacific … yet. Outfielder Masataka Yoshida, who over the winter signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, was 3-for-3 with five RBI, one of those hits producing two runs in that four-run third.

World Baseball Classic: Cuba 13, Panama 4

It may be too late to save their prospects of advancing, but the touted Cuban team partially redeemed its tarnished reputation against Panama.

White Sox star Yoan Moncada, hitless through his team’s two opening defeats, hit safely three times and drove in four runs to lead the rout of Panama. Catcher Yadil Mujica, a veteran of various leagues, added three hits and four RBI.

Other than as a salve to Cuban pride, the outcome was more damaging to the losers than it was helpful to the winners. Panama now joins Cuba at 1-2 in the Taichung group, leaving both teams desperate for outside assistance if they hope to be one of the two teams advancing to the tournament’s second round.

Ironically, Moncada shaped up as the goat of the game after his second inning throwing error on a ground ball set up Panama’s four-run second inning. Major League veteran Ruben Tejada followed that error with a two-run home run, erasing a 2-0 Cuba advantage.

But Moncada improved his reputation with a single that drove in a run as part of a four-run sixth inning. His hit broke a 4-4 tie and kick-started a renewed offense that generated 11 runs over the next three innings. Another Moncada hit in the seventh would drive in one of those runs, and an eighth-inning base on balls capped the Cuban scoring.

World Baseball Classic: Czech Republic 8, China 5

The Czechs, an underdog group of largely amateurs, rode a four-run ninth inning to victory in their tournament debut at Tokyo Dome.

The outcome looked glum for the Europeans when, trailing 5-4, Marek Chiup opened the ninth by striking out. But Martin Zervenka worked a base on balls and advanced to third on a double by Matej Mensik.

Then Martin Muzik, an outfielder with no organized baseball experience, lofted a three-run home run into the left field seats to give his team a 7-5 lead. The Czechs added a fourth run, then reliever Marek Minarik, who hadn’t pitched above rookie ball since 2015, closed out the Chinese on two easy ground balls and a strikeout.

With starter Daniel Padysak, also lacking any prior professional experience, holding China hitless through four innings, the Czechs carried a 3-1 lead into the sixth.

But China appeared to seize the momentum in the seventh thanks to four hits, two walks, an error, and a sacrifice fly, all of which yielded four runs. The last of those hits, a grounder that Minarik’s glove deflected past second baseman Eric Sogard (the Czechs’ only real pro)  for an infield hit that scored Xudong Zhu with the go-ahead run.

The Czechs out-hit China 10-6 in a game larded with 18 strikeouts, nine by each team.

Looking ahead in the World Baseball Classic

Friday’s outcomes put Japan in a commanding position in Group B. With 2-0 record, the  Japanese team needs only one more win in their two remaining games (against Australia and the Czech Republic) to ensure advancement.

Korea is in the exact opposite position. Having been beaten by both Japan and Australia, the Koreans join China as winless at 0-2 and must hope that potential future victories against the Czech Republic and China will be enough to give them continued life. But even that would require Australia (which holds the tie-breaker) to go winless in its three remaining games with Japan, the Czech Republic and China.

In Group A,  Netherlands, which was idle Friday, is now the only undefeated team. Chinese Taipei’s victory over Italy left both those teams at 1-1, a half-game ahead of Cuba and Panama, both1 -2.

Two upstart teams, Australia and Italy, face opportunities to enhance their status in games to be played Saturday morning in Asia, Friday night in the United States.

The Australians, who won their tournament opener against Korea, play winless China with a chance to move to 2-0 in the Tokyo Group.

At the same time in Chinese Taipei, Italy (which upset Cuba) plays the disappointing Panamanians, in what is likely to be a wrap-up of Panama’s WBC 2023 experience. Even with a victory, Panama would only be 2-2 and in dire peril of failing to advance.

The two “late” games in Asia will send the Czechs against Japan and undefeated Netherlands against Taipei. A win in Taichung versus the hosts and Netherlands guarantees itself advancement to the tournament’s second round.