Shohei Ohtani made his presence known when he struck out the first batter of Japan's 9-3 win over Italy in a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game Thursday, but that wasn't his most exciting strikeout of his outing.
That belonged to his strikeout of Vinnie Pasquantino in the second inning, which came on a 102-mph fastball. That pitch was the fastest he's thrown since signing with the Angels in 2018. His previous fastest pitch was clocked at 101.4 mph, which he threw Sept. 10, 2022, against the Houston Astros. Ohtani had thrown a 102.5-mph fastball before, when he was still playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Nippon Professional Baseball.
But Ohtani's command faltered in the fifth inning, after he hit two batters and gave up two hits and two earned runs, which prompted Samurai Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama to pull him from his outing before he could get out of the inning.
