N&N: Somewhat talented Shohei Ohtani strikes out Mike Trout to win WBC

Cleveland Guardians news and notes for Wednesday, March 22, 2023

The World Baseball Classic concluded last night, and it went as well for the sport as anybody could have hoped. (Well, besides Rob Manfred, who would have preferred to catch somebody using sticky substances in the bottom of the third and announce he had busted the MLBPA prior to the eighth inning.)

A tight, low-scoring game headed to the eighth with Japan holding a 3-1 lead. Only Trea Turner had managed any offense for the USA up until Kyle Schwarber homered off Yu Darvish in the top of the inning. Nobody was on base, so it was 3-2 after eight, with Shohei Ohtani warming in the bullpen.

After walking Jeff McNeil in a tightly-contested at-bat, Ohtani got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play. Meaning that to get the third out in this one-run game, this man stood in his way:

That is of course Mike Trout, but it wouldn’t really have mattered who it was, because Ohtani was unhittable and not even the best hitter in the world stood a chance. Trout swung and missed at a 3-2 pitch and that was that.

Box score

The Guardians still exist, too

• Tyler Freeman was optioned to Triple-A.
• Micah Pries and Luis Oviedo were sent to minor-league camp.
• Nick Mikolajchak was diagnosed with a sprained UCL.