Japan and Team USA made it a true celebration in the final of this Baseball Week. Thanks to home runs by Jake Munroe and Ayuto Matsushita, it was initially a feud, but with six runs in the sixth inning, the Asians put the game in a final fold.
The game began with Japanese starter Yuto Nakamura blowing away the Americans with the hardest fastball of the tournament, and when his teammates were able to score three runs right away, it looked like it was going to be a tough story for Team USA, but they straightened up and answered with two runs in their next at bat.
In the fifth inning, Team USA even took a brutal lead thanks to a 2-run home run by Jake Munroe, but now it was up to the Asians to respond and they did not disappoint. First, there was already a Japanese 2-run home run by Ayuto Matsushita, but that was just the beginning. Indeed, immediately after, they started a four-run rally, suddenly putting a five-run lead on the board.
The Japanese lead was never in danger again, and as they even added an extra point, the final score was 10-4.
(Photo: Jolein Zijlstra)