Ichiro Suzuki and his less-famous Japanese countrymen beat Cuba 10-6 in the World Baseball Classic final on Monday, ripping a page out of Cuba's scorebook by winning a major international tournament.
Cuba had won 22 of 24 games in international competition and dominated the globe for decades, but they cracked at the worst possible time against a team which qualified for the semifinals only after the US was upset by Mexico.
In the Classic's inaugural final, Japan led 6-1, Cuba rallied to within one to make it exciting, then Japan ran away for good with four runs at the top of the ninth.
When reliever Akinori Otsuka got the final out, he was mobbed near the mound by his teammates. The Japanese then tossed Sadaharu Oh, their manager, into the air twice.
"I'm unbelievably happy," Ichiro said. "To be honest, I never imagined we'd get there. We had a great team, the best. I hope we showed everyone what a great sport baseball is."
Two Cuban players posed with Suzuki for a photo.
"I never coached a team for a tournament like this, and never thought the pressure to be so high," Oh said. "Baseball is the best sport. Everyone has to work together. There is nothing more wonderful than that the Japanese players did such a wonderful job and showed that to everyone in the world."
Ichiro doubled, singled and drove in a run. He also scored three times, including in a four-run first inning that proved Cuba's pitchers are vulnerable, after all.
Cuba's fans perked up when their team, wearing its lucky red uniforms, pulled to 6-5 on a two-run homer by Frederich Cepeda with one out in the eighth. Then Otsuka came on and retired the side.
Ichiro singled in the ninth to score Munenori Kawasaki on a close play at the plate and make it 7-5. Kawasaki slid, turned and stuck his right hand just inside of catcher Ariel Pestano's left foot to -- perhaps -- touch the plate. Japan broke it open on a two-run single by pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome and a sacrifice fly by Michihiro Ogasawara.
Otsuka allowed a run in the ninth before closing it out for a save.
With the US failing to make it out of the second round and the Dominican Republic losing to Cuba in the semifinals, Ichiro, the Seattle Mariners' star, was the only major leaguer in the starting lineups. Otsuka is the only other US big leaguer on Japan's roster.
The Cubans consider themselves amateurs, although Miguel Tejada and Albert Pujols, who played for the Dominican Republic, said leading up to the semis that most of the Cubans could be in the US majors.
But as good as the Cubans are, Japan took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first while hitting the ball out of the infield just once.
Cuba starter Ormari Romero was on a short leash to begin with, but was yanked after throwing 23 pitches. He retired leadoff hitter Kawasaki, then loaded the bases on infield singles by Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Nobuhiko Matsunaka, and a walk to Ichiro.
Vicyhoandry Odelin came on and hit Hitoshi Tamura on the left elbow with a pitch to force in the second run, walked Ogasawara with two outs to bring in another, before Toshiaki Imae hit a sharp, two-run single up the middle to make it 4-0.
Eduardo Paret hit a leadoff homer for the Cubans in the first, but they didn't score again until the sixth, when they made it 6-3. One of Cuba's two runs that inning was unearned due to an error by shortstop Kawasaki, who earlier in the game made two brilliant plays.
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