World Baseball Classic score: Japan defeats the United States, with Shohei Ohtani clinching the team’s third WBC title.

Team Japan defeated Mike Trout and the Americans 3-2 in Miami on Tuesday night.

Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic with a 3-2 victory over Team USA on Tuesday night. Japan has now won three WBC tournaments, having gone undefeated throughout the competition in 2006, 2009, and 2023. They are still the only country to have won numerous tournaments, though Team USA would have joined them with a win.

The Americans took an early lead when Phillies infielder Trea Turner hit a solo home run in the second inning to put them up 1-0. Turner’s home run made history on both the national and regional levels. We’ll go over that in greater detail later.

The advantage held by Team USA did not last long. Munetaka Murakami of Japan, who homered 56 times last season and drove in the game-winning run against Mexico on Monday, hit a single home run in the third inning to tie the game.

Japan would subsequently take a 2-1 lead on a fielder’s choice by Lars Nootbaar. They’d make it 3-1 with another home run, this time by first baseman Kazuma Okamoto.

Hideki Kuriyama, Japan’s manager, resorted to two Major League Baseball aces to end the game. Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres was the first batter of the eighth inning. He had some turbulence, giving up a long home run to Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber, cutting Japan’s advantage to 3-2. Darvish also allowed Turner a hit, but he worked around it.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, whose availability had been unclear since last week, took the ninth inning. He finished strong to secure Japan’s title. He worked around a leadoff walk to Jeff McNeil, coercing a double-play ball from Mookie Betts to set up the matchup everyone wanted to see: against Angels teammate Mike Trout, in a battle of probably the world’s two best players.

Ohtani and Trout worked to a full count, with Ohtani getting two swings and misses on 100 mph fastballs. Ohtani then struck out Trout with a slider to finish the game and the tournament.

Here are five more facts about Japan’s recent WBC championship.

1. Japan’s other relievers maintain their dominance

The focus will be on Ohtani and Darvish’s home runs, or Murakami and Okamoto’s, but Japan’s victory can be attributed in large part to a solid overall effort from their pitching staff. Lefty Shota Imanaga started the game, allowing one run on four hits over two innings. Shosei Togo, Hiroto Takahashi, Hiromi Itoh, and Taisei Ota were later replaced by a concert of NPB arms. These four pitchers combined for five innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out five hitters.

2. Japan completes its winning streak

Japan went 7-0 in the World Baseball Classic, dominating in both group and single-elimination play. They did not simply defeat their opponents; they outmatched them. Japan outscored their opponents by a total 56-18 margin, or an average of five-plus runs per game for those without a calculator. In addition, Japan tallied at least six runs in all but one of its games. The only exception was Tuesday, when they only managed three runs.

3. Team USA falters with guys on the field

The Americans were not interested in matching or surpassing Japan. They were 0 for 7 with runners in goal position on the night. As a consequence, nine runners were left on base. Several of the Americans’ top hitters, including Nolan Arenado, Turner, Schwarber, and Mookie Betts, left runners on second with two outs. If one or two of them had converted, the game would have ended differently. Unfortunately, that was not the situation.

4. Turner creates history

Turner’s fifth home run of the tournament was historic. For starters, he set a new WBC mark for the most career home runs hit by an American batter. He also matched for the most home runs hit in a single tournament. That honor had previously been held by Korea’s Seung-Yuop Lee, who homered five times during the 2006 tournament. Adrián Beltré (Dominican Republic, 2006) and Wladimir Balentien (Netherlands, 2017) finished third and fourth, respectively, with four home runs.

5. The next WBC will be held in 2026

Prior to the contest, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the next World Baseball Classic will be held in 2026. The tournament usually occurs every four years, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a seven-year hiatus. The choice to hold another WBC in 2026 is most likely motivated by the fact that it will be 20 years since the first tournament. Click here to see which 16 nations have already qualified for entry. Oh, and Angels outfielder Mike Trout has already committed to participate.

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