MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani is only one player.
Samurai Japan’s 8-5 loss to Venezuela on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic was a reminder of this reality.
Ohtani produced another moment of magic, blasting a leadoff homer in the first that countered Ronald Acuña’s in the top of the first inning, but it wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t enough to overcome his team’s terror-inducing bullpen and it wasn’t enough to overcome Venezuela’s offensive firepower.
Ohtani flied out for the final out of the game, but the at-bat was ultimately inconsequential. The bases were empty.
Samurai Japan’s dream of a third consecutive WBC championship was over. Venezuela, not Japan, advanced to a semifinal matchup with Italy on Monday.
The game started with Acuna sending a 96.5 mph fastball by Yoshinobu Yamamoto over the right field wall. The former National League MVP screamed as he rounded the bases, and so did the fans.
The response was swift, as Ohtani golfed a breaking ball at the bottom of the zone for a leadoff home run of his own. Ohtani discarded his bat and turned to the Samurai Japan bench, pushing his palms down as if to tell his team to calm down.
Nevertheless, the inning ended disastrously for Samurai Japan. Caught stealing second base for the third out, Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki injured his right knee on the slide.
Japan’s second-best hitter was removed from the game.
The situation was about to become worse, as Yamamoto resembled a rocket launcher more than he did a World Series hero. The Dodgers right-hander gave up back-to-back doubles to Ezequiel Tovar and Gleyber Torres that produced another run for Venezuela.
The game flipped again in the third inning. With one out and a runner on second base, Ohtani was walked intentionally. That brought up outfielder Teruaki Sato, who struck out 163 times last season with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese league and struck out again in the first inning of this game. Sato managed to get his bat on the ball this time, lining a ball down the right-field line for a run-scoring double that leveled the game at 2-2.
The next batter was Sato’s teammate on the Tigers, Shota Morishita, who entered the contest as Suzuki’s replacement. Morishita reached out for a changeup by Venezuela starter Ranger Suarez and redirected the pitch into the seats behind Samurai Japan bullpen in left field.
Suarez was knocked out of the game, and Japan was leading 5-2. The two-time defending tournament champions were on their way.
The dynamic of the game shifted when Yamamoto came out of the game. Some of the pitchers who followed him out of the bullpen were as small as he was physically, only they didn’t have his ability.
Standing only 5-foot-9, left-hander Chihiro Sumida served up a two-run homer to Maikel Garcia in the fifth inning that reduced Japan’s lead to 5-4. What remained of that lead vanished entirely in the next inning when another 5-foot-9 pitcher, right-hander Hiromi Itoh, gave up a three-run blast to Wilyer Abreu.
Suddenly, Samurai Japan was down, 7-5.
Venezuela’s lead extended to 8-5 in the seventh inning when 6-foot right-hander Atsuki Taneichi tried to pick off Tovar at second base and tossed the ball into center field. Tovar scored on the error.
