SAN DIEGO, 22 March 2006 — 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 on Monday.
Cuba’s lucky red uniforms were little help in a disastrous first inning, as the Olympic champions surrendered four runs and needed three pitchers just to get the first three outs.
After being on the brink of elimination of a grueling tournament that included two painful losses to bitter rivals 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 Mariner’s 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 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 just one run on four hits to earn MVP honors.
Cuban starter Ormani Romero lasted just 1-3 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 fifth to increase their lead to 6-1.
Outfielder Frederich Cepeda sparked a Cuban rally in the sixth with an RBI 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 right to score a badly needed insurance run before Kosuke Fukudome stroked a bases-loaded, two-run double to clinch the title.
It was only Japan’s fifth win in 38 meetings with the Olympic champions.
“This is a game that will go down in history,” said Cuban manager Higinio Velez. “This is the first Classic, it was the first final game of a Classic. Japan won and we congratulate them for that.
“They deserve these words of congratulations for the way they played this evening, the courage, the type of game they played.”
