Japan 9, Great Britain 7
Zagreb, Croatia, September 10
Great Britain gave one of the world’s top baseball nations a late scare as it rallied for five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in GB’s first game in Group D at the 2009 Baseball World Cup.
This is thought to be Great Britain’s first meeting against a non-European national team in major competition since it beat the United States to win the inaugural World Cup in 1938. In its first major world competition since that year, GB met a team which, despite being comprised mainly of Japanese ‘Industrial League’ players (as opposed to the higher-level players from Nippon Professional Baseball or Major League Baseball), represents a nation which has never finished out of the top five positions in the World Cup and comes with a solid pedigree in world baseball.
Today, Great Britain returned to the world stage with a late flourish against Japan’s closer after the Japanese seemed to have the game wrapped up at 9-2 going into the bottom of the final inning. Indeed, Great Britain had the batter representing the winning run at the plate but a strikeout ended the game at 9-7 and got Japan out of a sticky situation.
Though a quick glance at the final score doesn’t reflect that Japan had built a big lead during the second part of the game, equally GB’s involvement in the game was not restricted to a spot of late-innings excitement. Twice earlier in the game Britain loaded the bases with only one out but couldn’t convert runners – had they done so the Japanese would have been in for an even more nerve-jangling affair.
Bamboozle the batters
Though the Japanese hitters were swinging for the fences early on, some solid outfield defence from GB managed to keep the game a close one through the first four innings. Rightfielder Sam Wiley robbed Ken Kume of a solo home run in the first inning by reaching back over the fence to make the catch.
Unfortunately, Wiley could do nothing in the second inning when Yoshinobu Kotegawa – ninth in Japan’s batting lineup – spanked a two-run homer over the right field fence to add to Kenichi Yokoyama’s run and give his side a 3-0 lead. However, this was not the beginning of a Japanese onslaught as some might have predicted. In the top of the third a tight double play by Britain’s infielders helped prevent Japan extending its lead.
One of Great Britain’s tactics for dealing with the Japanese hitters was to make good use of its relief pitching from early on in the game with the aim to bamboozle the batters.
“We knew it would be tough for one guy to match the strength of Japan’s starting pitcher deep into the game,” explained Will Lintern, one of GB’s catchers, afterwards. “So we figured we’d confront their hitters with a range of throwers throughout the game which meant we were frequently changing up the delivery style and speeds.”
To this end Craig Pycock came in to replace Sam Whitehead at the start of the fourth inning and promptly retired the batters in order, including the team’s first two strikeouts. Over the course of the game Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia tried out six different pitchers: Whitehead, Pycock, Tom Boleska, Tom Stack-Babich, Stephen Spragg and Paul Waterman.
Jason Holowaty led off for Great Britain versus Japan in GB's first meeting with a non-European country in a major competition since 1938
Missed opportunity
The pivotal moment of the game came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Britain loaded the bases with one out and the scoreline still 3-0. Tim Collins attempted a sacrifice fly which was caught by the left fielder Kotegawa who promptly fired a strike to the catcher in time to make the tag on Chris Berset, who was trying to score from third base. The throw had to be perfect to give the catcher a chance and it was – the inning ended abruptly when, alternatively, Britain might have closed the gap somewhat and shaken the opposition. Instead, Britain found itself six runs behind in the next inning when the top of Japan’s line up combined to add three runs, thanks in part to two-run bloop hit from Yokoyama which dropped into the hole in shallow right field.
Though momentarily deflated by these events, the GB players continued to battle and soon launched a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth to finally put some runs on the board. A two-run double by Chris Falls raised spirits and in the top of the seventh Britain’s defence remained tight to shut down the Japanese, including another infield double play.
When Japan added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings to make the score 9-2, it seemed that Great Britain was now playing solely for pride. Frustratingly, they let another bases-loaded opportunity go to waste in the bottom of the eighth as two consecutive strikeouts ended the inning with no damage done to Japan’s lead.
Thrilling finish
However, Britain had been slowly building momentum over the previous innings and it came to fruition as Japan’s Eiichi Hirai looked to close the game out in the bottom of the final inning. A strikeout began the inning followed by pinch hitter Evan Romanchuk creeping on base by virtue of a dropped third strike which somehow ended up in the Japanese dugout. It was an inauspicious start to a big rally which would see GB bat through the lineup.
The next three batters strung together three hits and four runs including an RBI-single by Brant Ust and a three-run homer by Sam Wiley. With two outs, another dropped third strike allowed Berset to cross the plate bringing the score to 9-7. Brad Marcelino, who had led off the inning, fired a single to centrefield to load the bases and bring up Richard Klijn, who had been substituted in early in the inning as a pinch runner for Romanchuk.
With the winning runs on base, Klijn – the youngest member of the squad at 19-years-old – now found himself in a clutch situation. He battled hard at the plate but Hirai regained his composure to get the strikeout for the final out and allow the Japanese to breathe a big sigh of relief.
That the GB squad was visibly disappointed to suffer defeat in a game which – prior to it – many observers would have assumed they would lose, demonstrated how close the team came on a number of occasions to really rocking one of the world’s eminent baseball nations. As Coach Rapaglia observed, had one or two opportunities turned out differently it was not implausible that the game could have swung GB’s way.
Certainly Great Britain finished as the strongest side and, although it doesn’t alter the final outcome, the close nature of the game’s conclusion should fill the squad with high morale ahead of Friday’s game with Nicaragua.
Next game: Great Britain plays Nicaragua in Group D on September 11, 10:30 CET (09:30 British time).
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Also, check out Matt Smith’s BaseballGB blog site for further coverage.
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