Ondřej Satoria did what no one else at WBC before
A few weeks from now it will be already a year since Czech baseball players played at World Baseball Classic in Japan. There was a lot said and written about their appearance, but there still seems to be a lot to tell. One such information appeared on X (formerly Twitter) and it concerns Ondřej Satoria.
Profile チェコの野球 came with the information that Satoria is the only pitcher in the history to strikeout Japanese Samurai batters in positions 1 to 4 in a single game.
The deed was done after Satoria striked out Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the third inning. At this point he already had a strikeout on each of the first three batters in the lineup.
Everything started in the first inning, which Satoria started with a strikeout on Lars Nootbar, who plays for MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals. He then finished the inning with a strikeout against NPB’s star Kensuke Kondoh, who dominated the league in HR and RBI.
Satoria then earned his first strikeout in the second inning against Munetaka Murakami, who entered the tournament as the latest owner of Japanese Triple Crown and two times NPB Central League homerun king.
And the third inning brought another battle against Ohtani. While the first time around we saw Japanese be the winner, this time the star swing through and almost lost his helmet.
Satoria’s achievement is even more unique considering WBC limits pitchers to 65 pitches. Czech pitcher used them to play 3 innings and 4 SO. All of them against the best of Japanese players. And that is certainly something to remember.
