You can only imagine the joy and jubilation if cheering and flag-waving spectators had filled Yokohama’s sport stadium instead of empty seats. Instead of chants, we hear the echo of the bell of the ball.
Sport is like a national religion in Japan, where the annual high school tournament known as Koshien can attract more than 50% of viewers and star players gain instant fame. While the Olympic sport tournament is primarily an event that few pay attention to in the United States, where the focus is on gymnasts, swimmers and track and field stars, fans in Japan expected the home country to win. gold medal. There would be no celebration for silver.
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The local team complied. With an eye on that enormous pressure, a Japanese All-Star team (the Central and Pacific leagues paused their schedules to allow the best players to play) beat a motley roster of US minor leaguers and nba중계 players. 2-0 in the gold medal game to win his first Olympic gold medal. Five Japanese pitchers gave a pitching masterclass, holding the American team to just six hits. The United States had just one extra-base hit and only one runner reached third base.
The biggest hero of the day for Japan was 23-year-old starter Masato Morishita,
A rising star for the Hiroshima Carp. The 2020 Central League Rookie of the Year, Morishita whitewashed the USA lineup with five shutout innings, keeping them off balance with a big old-school slow curveball, a moving fastball that managed to fool hitters. rights and a hesitation in his delivery, where he stopped with his front knee frozen in midair. Pressure? Morishita was wearing a gold-colored glove.
I suspect that the color of the gloves will suddenly become very popular among children in Japan.
In fact, it was a great day for the youngest stars in Japan.USA starter Nick Martinez, who has pitched in Japan since 2018 after spending four years with the Texas Rangers , got into a big pitching duel with Morishita. He escaped a jam with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth inning with a force play at the plate and a three-pitch strikeout, yelling and shaking his fist after the strikeout. And he managed to retire all three opponents with strikeouts in the fifth.
However, he left after six innings trailing 1-0, when 21-year-old
Unitika Murakami hit an opposite-field home run in the third inning that sailed just over the fence in left center field. Despite his youth, Murakami is already in his fourth season with the Yakult Swallows. He hit 36 home runs in 2019, .307 with 28 home runs in 2020, and already has 26 in 83 games this season. He was quiet in the stadium, but a roar certainly echoed throughout Japan as he rounded the bases. He is a player that American scouts will be watching closely.
After Morishita left, Japan emptied their bullpen. The second reliever was Hiromi Itoh, a 23-year-old rookie from the Nippon Ham Fighters, a starter in the regular season, but getting the seventh inning in this game. On a humid night in Yokohama, a generous dose of blonde complexion was applied to her fingers and with each throw a cloud of powder flew off the ball.
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