Team USA Baseball Wins Silver, Japan Takes Gold in Tokyo Games

In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics quarterfinals, Japan scored two runs to secure its first gold medal in the sport.

In a rematch of the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games, Japan scored two runs to defeat Team USA 2–0 to secure the gold medal in baseball for the first time on Saturday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium.

Team USA (4–2) finished with silver and earned its sixth Olympic medal for baseball and its fourth as an official sport in the Olympics. The Japanese beat the U.S. for the second time in six days, having rallied in the ninth to win 7-6 in 10 innings on Monday.

With baseball returning back for the first time since 2008, Japan (5-0) had previously earned two bronze medals (1992, 2004) and one silver medal (1996) before winning gold on Saturday. Dominican Republic secured bronze in the sport.

The last time the U.S. won gold in baseball was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when it defeated Cuba.

It’s baseball glory for #JPN! At Yokohama Stadium, Japan defeat USA for their first Olympic #gold in the sport!#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | #Baseball | @WBSC pic.twitter.com/XIgiBg6T4B

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 7, 2021

Japan's pitching—Masato Morishita, Koudai Senga, Hiromi Itoh and Suguru Iwazaki—kept Team USA scoreless in the game. However, Japan managed only two more hits (eight) than Team USA's six. 

Murakami, 21, and the youngest player in Japan's starting lineup, reached out for an 85.2 mph off-speed pitch with a 2-2 count from U.S. pitcher Nick Martinez. He drove the ball to the opposite field, over the 16-foot wall in left-center, and Martinez winced as it landed in the fourth row of the empty blue seats.

Morishita held the U.S. to three hits over five innings, struck out five and walked none. Hiromi Itoh pitched the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff single to Tyler Austin in the eighth.

Martinez, who started against the Japanese, allowed a home run and five of Japan's six hits, striking out seven through six innings. Japan did not earn its second run—an unearned run—of the game until the eighth inning. Masataka Yoshida singled off U.S. reliever Scott McGough and center fielder Jack López committed a throwing error that allowed Tetsuto Yamada to score.

U.S. infielder Eddy Alvarez—the U.S. opening ceremony flag-bearer—also became the sixth athlete of all-time to win an Olympic medal in both the Summer and Winter Games, becoming the third American athlete to do so following Eddie Egan (1920, 1932) and Lauryn Williams (2004, 2012, 2014). Alvarez won silver in the 5000-meter relay in short track speed skating at Sochi.

United States drops to 1–2 in medal-round games in the Olympics against Japan. Baseball will not be played at 2024 Paris Games but could potentially return for 2028 in Los Angeles and 2032 in Brisbane, Australia.