At the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday night, Czechia fought valiantly and held Japan scoreless into the eighth, but the Samurai proved too strong in the end, erupting for nine runs in the inning to finish Pool C play of the World Baseball Classic undefeated.
Both teams already knew their fate entering the night. Japan had clinched the top seed in the pool, while Czechia had already been locked into last place and relegation to the qualifiers. Still, the teams delivered a surprisingly competitive contest into the late innings.
Notably, Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki were both rested. Shota Morishita, Teruaki Sato, Kaito Kozono, Ukyo Shuto, Yuhei Nakamura, and Taisei Makihara all made their first starts of the tournament as manager Hirokazu Ibata looked to get everyone playing time.
23-year-old Hiroto Takahashi started for Japan and delivered 4 ⅔ scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out five on 63 pitches.
Ondrej Satoria, the electrician-pitcher who famously struck out Ohtani in the 2023 WBC, matched him by tossing 4 ⅔ shutout innings for Czechia in what was his national team retirement game, earning a standing ovation from the Tokyo Dome crowd.
In the bottom of the eighth, with the game still tied 0-0, Kenya Wakatsuki doubled, and right fielder William Escala committed a throwing error that allowed Sato to come around from third to score the go-ahead run.
Later in the frame, Shuto launched a rare three-run home run to extend the lead to 4-0. Shugo Maki then drew a pinch-hit RBI walk, and Munetaka Murakami capped the inning with a 425-foot grand slam to right field to make it 9-0.
Hiroya Miyagi, Yumeto Kanemaru, and Koki Kitayama combined for 3 ⅓ perfect innings with nine strikeouts to close it out for Japan.
Japan now awaits the runner-up from Pool D, either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, and will travel to Miami for a quarterfinal matchup on March 14.
Korea, which clinched second place in the pool with a 7-2 win over Australia last night, will also travel to Miami and will be on the opposite side of the bracket.
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Photo: Japan players celebrate after defeating Czech Republic in their World Baseball Classic game on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
