Published by
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
By Frankie Taddeo In a moment that seemed scripted, Shohei Ohtani struck out Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out and won tournament MVP honors. Team USA’s bid for consecutive World Baseball Classic tournament championships came up short on Tuesday night, falling to Japan 3–2 at loanDepot Park in Miami. Four of the five runs came on solo home runs by Team USA’s Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber and Japan’s Munetaka Murakami and Kumiko Okamoto. Trea Turner opened the scoring in the top of the second inning, crushing a 2–1 pitch from Shota Imanaga. The dynamic shortstop tied the WBC tournam…