Five Japanese pitchers combined to beat the hosts for a six-hit shutout on Saturday United States of america 2-0, taking first Olympic Baseball Gold Medal for that nation game eats and breathes.
Third baseman Munetaka Murakami gave top-order Japan the only run it would need, with a third-innings homer losing to pitcher Nick Martinez.
The US starter limited Japan to just that run in six effective innings. The hosts added an insurance run in the eighth to seal victory in the gold medal match in Yokohama.
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American manager Mike Sciocia praised Japan, saying they “deserved to win,” but also praised the effort from their side.
“Our team actually plays in such different conditions than they usually face in a normal season in the States. Every game was a Game 7,” said Psychosia, whose mentor, the late Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy LaSorda, led Team USA to the 2000 gold in Sydney.
“We got it within a couple of breaks of winning the gold medal.”
Japan’s starting pitcher, Masato Morishita, surrendered just three hits in five innings. He was followed by Kodai Senga, Hiromi Itoh, Suguru Iwazaki and Ryoji Kuribayashi, who completed the shutout.
The American team, full of minor leagues and free agents, put the runners up in scoring positions in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but none failed to bring it home.
Saturday’s victory also sealed Japan’s reign of both Olympic diamonds after beating the hosts American women last month To sleep softball. He also enjoyed an earlier win over Team USA in baseball on Monday.
Baseball was last contested on the Olympic stage in 2008, before that, along with softball, was brought back at the urging of yaku-loving Japan.
Despite his love affair with the American pastime, samurai japan had not been a member of a relatively exclusive club of baseball gold medalists: US (2000)handjob Cuba (1992, 1996, 2004) and South Korea (2008).
The American loss deprived America’s third baseman Todd Frazier of an incredibly rare diamond double.
Frasier led fellow youth Toms River, New Jersey, till 1998 Little League World Series title.
“It’s been a great experience, man,” Frazier said of the tournament that ended in US Silver. “I can’t say it enough.”
The end of the tournament will send second baseman Eddie Alvarez home with a silver, which he can keep in the trophy case along with his speedskating silver from 2014.
“Sounds like deja vu,” Alvarez said of his double silver medal. “It’s just as heavy as the other. Same color, slightly different design, but it’s still an incredible journey, an incredible experience.”
Alvarez, a 31-year-old Miami native and son of Cuban immigrants, is now one of only three Americans to win medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympics.
The last two double-winners were American Eddie Egan, a 1920s boxing gold medalist, and 1932 Four-Man Bobsleigh Champion, And Lauryn Williamswho captured Gold in the 2012 4×100 Relay And then silver in the two-woman bobsled in 2014.
Alvarez said he was initially disappointed by the defeat, before being reminded of Team USA’s achievement.
“My coach had to get us together and get us out of it,” he said. “He yelled at us. … He basically said, ‘You know, you’re a silver medalist.’ And then it hit me.”
This silver-medal-winning US side was made up of experienced free agents by their parent clubs to catch the eye of the minor leaguers and MLB team allowed to play in the Olympics. Team USA was one of the last teams to qualify. for the Tokyo Olympics.
Happening at the same time with the Olympics multi-billion dollar domestic baseball seasonOf course, MLB hasn’t stopped the season or allowed the game’s best players to participate in these quadrennial games.
In contrast, the National Hockey League has regularly interrupted its season to allow the world’s best players to compete in the Olympics. recent league 2021-22 schedule announced, which includes a break for winter sports.
America too won gold in men’s basketball Early Saturday, Kevin Durant led the star-studded team to their fourth straight Olympic title shortly after the end of the NBA season.
The Associated Press has contributed.