Japan Withstands Cuban Fightback

The Age

Wednesday March 22, 2006

By STEVE KEATING, SAN DIEGO

JAPAN stormed to an early lead, then survived a furious Cuban comeback to claim the inaugural World Baseball Classic title with a dramatic 10-6 win.

Cuba's lucky red uniforms were little help in a disastrous first inning as the Olympic champion surrendered four runs and needed three pitchers just to get the first three outs.

After being on the brink of elimination of a gruelling tournament that included two painful losses to bitter rival South Korea, the Japanese bench erupted in celebration when Akinori Otsuka struck out Yulieski Gourriel to end the game.

The final provided a fitting finale to an experimental 17-day, 16-nation competition that proved hugely popular, attracting 737,112 spectators to 39 games.

"This is probably the biggest moment in my baseball career," said Seattle Mariners All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

"I was always thinking we would need a good event to decide the world's best in baseball. We really wanted to win this game today and I didn't even think about the upcoming season.

"I didn't really care if I got injured in this game, that's how much I really wanted to win this one.

"That's how we were driven to win this championship."

While Cuba's pitchers, who had pitched like Major Leaguers throughout the tournament, could not find the plate, Japan got a solid effort from Daisuke Matsuzaka, who delivered four solid innings yielding only one run on four hits to earn Most Valuable Player honours.

Cuban starter Ormani Romero lasted only a third of an inning after loading the bases before his replacement, Vicyhoandry Odelin, pinged the first batter he faced to bring across Tsuyoshi Nishioka for the game's first run.

After striking out Tomoya Satozaki, Odelin walked Michihiro Ogasawara to score Suzuki and then served up a slider to Toshiaki Imae for two more runs to double Japan's advantage, chasing the reliever from the game.

Cuba would hit back with Eduardo Paret's homer to left field in the bottom of the first but Japan tallied two more runs in the fifth to increase its lead to 6-1.

Outfielder Frederich Cepeda sparked a Cuban rally in the sixth with a runs-batted-in double before Osmani Urrutias hit a run-scoring single to trim the deficit to 6-3. Cepeda's two-run homer in the eighth breathed new life into Cuba's championship hopes, making it 6-5 with all to play for heading into the final inning.

But Suzuki would come up big for Japan, lining a single to the right to score a badly needed insurance run before Kosuke Fukudome stroked a bases-loaded, two-run double to clinch the title.

It was Japan's fifth win in 38 meetings with the Olympic champion. -- REUTERS

© 2006 The Age

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