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.