Shohei Ohtani homers again as Japan beats Korea 8-6 in the best game of the WBC so far
If you were not watching the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night you missed the best game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic so far.
Japan and Korea combined for five home runs in the first four innings and played a back-and-forth game that had a genuine pulse the entire way through before Japan pulled away for an 8-6 win. Samurai Japan is now 2-0 and looking like exactly the team everyone feared heading into this tournament.
The game had everything. Seiya Suzuki and Masataka Yoshida were the difference makers for Japan, combining for three homers and seven of the team’s eight RBIs.
Seiya Suzuki creating SCENES inside the Tokyo Dome:
They went back-to-back as part of a three-homer third inning that also included Shohei Ohtani’s second home run in as many WBC games. The man is simply on a mission right now and the Tokyo Dome crowd has been the beneficiary.
Shohei Ohtani HR
Shohei Ohtani crushes a grand slam as Japan mercy ruled Chinese Taipei 13-0
Korea kept fighting. Hyeseong Kim answered Japan’s third-inning power surge with a no-doubt two-run shot to right in the fourth that tied the game at five and swung the momentum. Korea’s starter Yusei Kikuchi gave up three runs in the first but the Koreans kept battling back and had the game tied going into the seventh.
Hyeseong Kim NO DOUBTER
That is when Japan made the difference the old-fashioned way. With the game knotted at five, Japan loaded the bases with three walks including an intentional pass to Shohei Ohtani, worked in a sacrifice bunt and a groundout, and then Suzuki walked to force in a run before Yoshida lined a two-run single to center to make it 8-5. Korea could not recover.
Kim had one more chance to change the story in the eighth with the bases loaded and Japan leading by two, but he got caught looking at a Yuki Matsumoto fastball on the bottom of the zone to end the threat. That pitch ended Korea’s night. Five Japanese pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts.
Shohei Ohtani and Japan face Australia on Sunday at 6 a.m. ET on FS1, in a matchup of the two teams that are both 2-0 in Pool C. Korea tries to bounce back against Chinese Taipei Saturday night at 10 p.m. on FS2.
Team USA plays Great Britain on Saturday night at 8 p.m. on FOX. The WBC is fully alive.
Complete Schedule: 2026 World Baseball Classic
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