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MIAMI — The two best baseball players in the world’s eyes locked for a split second, long enough to acknowledge each other and the sheer improbability of what was happening.

Top of the ninth. Two outs. A one-run game. In the batter’s box stood Mike Trout, and on the pitcher’s mound was Shohei Ohtani. When this was over, they would again be Los Angeles Angels teammates, but in this moment, this perfect moment, they were foes.

Three minutes later, when the at-bat of a lifetime ended, Ohtani was mobbed by his Samurai Japan teammates, the new World Baseball Classic champions, and Trout was skulking back to the Team USA dugout, having swung through a frisbee slider on a full count that cemented Japan’s 3-2 victory Tuesday night.

In a tournament that had everything, a three-week sprint that brought the intensity and stakes of October baseball to March, it was only fitting that the dream scenario played out in the most dramatic of fashions.

“I believe this is the best moment in my life,” said Ohtani, the 28-year-old two-way player who by sheer force wrested away the title of best player alive from Trout, whose grip on it seemed unbreakable.

The two aren’t just generational players. They are all-timers, the best of the best, and the crowd of 36,058 at LoanDepot Park, accompanied by tens of millions of viewers around the globe, witnessed the mathematically improbable turn real then metamorphose into something even better.

The possibility of the moment emerged immediately after Samurai Japan, as the No. 1-ranked team in international baseball is nicknamed, clinched a WBC final spot Monday night with a breathtaking walk-off win against Mexico. The reigning Olympic gold medalists arrived ran roughshod through pool play and the quarterfinals, hopeful they would meet the powerful Team USA, with its countless All-Stars and billion-dollar lineup, in the final. When they did, a great baseball game broke out, full of matchups between elite hitters and pitchers, featuring mistake-free defense, ever ready to tilt in either team’s favor.

At the beginning of the night, Ohtani led his team down the third-base line holding the Japanese flag, while Trout did the same along the first-base line with the Stars and Stripes. Though they stopped short of the plate, it was as though they were presaged to meet there eventually.

“As a baseball fan, everybody wanted to see it,” Trout said. “He won Round 1.”

Ultimately, it was by knockout, with Ohtani dispatching Trout from the box and Team USA from a tournament that nearly chewed it up in pool play. The mighty Dominican Republic had lost before the knockout round, the WBC far from a chalk affair, so to see Japan vs. USA, and to imagine Ohtani vs. Trout like the tiniest nesting doll inside of it, tantalized baseball fans old and new.

And then it happened at 10:40 p.m. ET, after Ohtani, pitching in relief for the first time since clinching a Japan Series appearance for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2016, induced a double play from Mookie Betts, erasing his leadoff walk to Jeff McNeil. Ohtani had entered the game after warming up between at-bats as a designated hitter, and his slow, calculated walk to the mound — the product of him awaiting a replay review — nevertheless looked straight out of a Western, the big, strong man with his hat pulled down sauntering toward trouble.

Trout, walking off the field, looked over his shoulder and stole a glance, fully aware that he was due up third. By the time he made it into the batter’s box, they saw each other and the unspoken was obvious: This was the biggest at-bat of their careers, seeing as Ohtani’s five seasons with the Angels have produced zero playoff appearances and Trout’s one postseason, in 2014, ended with a sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals. Trout took a deep breath, settled himself and readied for what was to come: power vs. power, skill vs. skill, greatness vs. greatness.

“I thought it was like a manga,” Japan outfielder Kazuma Okamoto said, “like a comic book.”

Trout stared at an 88 mph slider just below the zone for ball one, and the battle was on. In July, when Trout was named the captain for Team USA, he pledged to recruit the sort of team that could help the Americans repeat as WBC champions. He had never played in the tournament before, and as it went along — as his friendship with Betts deepened, as he remembered what it was like to play in games that felt like they mattered — the meaning of the WBC sharpened in his mind.

“It was probably the funnest 10 days I’ve ever had,” Trout said, later continuing: “I can’t really express what’s different about it. You can just feel it in your veins. It’s a special, special feeling.”

The second pitch, a fastball, blew by Trout’s mighty swing at 100 mph. It was Ohtani announcing his presence in a fashion few pitchers can. He had thrown another 100 mph heater earlier in the day, delivering a pregame speech to Samurai Japan that urged the team to regard itself on the same plane as its superstar-laden opponent.

“Let’s stop admiring them,” Ohtani said. “If you admire them, you can’t surpass them. We came here to surpass them, to reach the top. For one day, let’s throw away our admiration for them and just think about winning.”

Ohtani returned to the fastball on the third pitch and yanked it outside to move the count to 2-1. The at-bat could have ended here with a weak grounder or a soft single or a gap double or any of an infinite number of permutations, but the game was not yet done with Ohtani vs. Trout.

“With Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout ending that game the way they did, I think baseball won again,” said Lars Nootbaar, the Los Angeles-born-and-raised St. Louis Cardinals outfielder who had become a cult hero leading off for Samurai Japan. “I just think this WBC as a whole kind of elevated the game, and I hope the exposure that it got creates baseball fans all over the world.”

Ohtani also elevated, throwing a high fastball at 100 mph past a swinging Trout again on the fourth pitch. The at-bat was turning into something bigger, something memorable, something that helped inspire Ohtani to play in the tournament despite the vagaries of two-way play making a normal 162-game season a marathon.

“I’ve seen Japan winning, and I just wanted to be part of it,” Ohtani said. “I really appreciate that I was able to have the great experience. As I say, the next generation, the kids who are playing baseball, I was hoping that those people would like to play baseball. That would make me happy.”

The fifth pitch, another fastball, this one at 101.6 mph, spiked into the ground, because if Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout are going to face each other for the first time ever, it had to be epic.

“With Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout ending that game the way they did, I think baseball won again. I just think this WBC as a whole kind of elevated the game, and I hope the exposure that it got creates baseball fans all over the world.”

Lars Nootbaar, Cardinals outfielder and leadoff hitter for Team Japan

“He’s got nasty stuff,” Trout said. “He’s throwing 101, 102. He threw me a good pitch at the end.”

The best pitch of all was the sixth, an 87 mph slider, the sweepy sort that starts on the inside corner and ends up outside the strike zone. Trout swung and missed. Japan exulted, destiny fulfilled. Team USA sulked, opportunity blown. The Americans had gone 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, didn’t cash in on Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber home runs and couldn’t keep Japan’s offense in check long enough — and it made them vulnerable to one of the best sliders in the world inducing the rare three-swing-and-misses strikeout by Trout.

“That slider was nasty,” Team USA third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “It was a great pitch. If Mike Trout’s not hitting it, I don’t think anybody else is.”

Trout took no solace in that. He wanted so badly to win, and he didn’t. Ohtani was the one on the field taking celebratory pictures with the WBC gold medal hanging from his neck — with Roki Sasaki, the 21-year-old fireballer who will eventually join Ohtani in MLB, and another with Yu Darvish, now the elder statesman of Japanese pitchers.

On the opposite side of the stadium, Trout spoke to the media, hooked a left and walked down the tunnel, fidgeting with his phone and thinking about 2026. He’ll be back in that WBC, he said, and he plans on bringing an even better team with him, one that can beat Japan.

“Next time,” Trout said, “I want to make sure everybody buys in.”

For anyone who watched the championship on Tuesday, how couldn’t they? More than eight innings of high-level baseball gave way to the highest-level matchup imaginable, and it exceeded expectations. The at-bat personified the tournament itself, great from start to finish — particularly finish. When Trout returns in 2026, he’ll have company. In the aftermath of his greatest victory, Shohei Ohtani said he’ll be back too. And if the baseball gods are still smiling on the WBC, it will include Round 2.

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Reds: 1st since 1960 to lose 3 straight by 1-0

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Reds: 1st since 1960 to lose 3 straight by 1-0

MILWAUKEE — The Cincinnati Reds lost 1-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night to become only the second team in the live-ball era (since 1920) to lose three consecutive 1-0 games.

The Reds joined the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost three straight in the same fashion in 1960, according to ESPN Research.

“Nobody’s happy with what’s happened the last three games,” Reds manager Terry Francona said after the string of 1-0 losses continued in the opener of a four-game series at Milwaukee. “We’ll figure it out together. I feel strongly about that.”

Cincinnati’s lineup showcased its potential Monday in a 14-3 victory over the Texas Rangers, but the Reds haven’t scored since.

Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi outdueled Carson Spiers on Tuesday. Jack Leiter and four Texas relievers combined for 10 strikeouts Wednesday as the Reds wasted a brilliant performance from Hunter Greene.

Milwaukee’s Nestor Cortes shut down Cincinnati on Thursday, allowing one hit, striking out six and walking two over six innings.

Cincinnati’s Nick Lodolo gave up four hits and one unearned run in 6⅔ innings Thursday, but he took the loss because the Reds mustered just two hits.

“It’s part of the game, you know?” Lodolo said. “I’ll be honest with you. Obviously I want us to score, but I’m not really thinking about it. I’ve got to do my job at the end of the day, regardless. We’ll turn it around. I guarantee that.”

That’s the attitude Francona wants to see from his pitchers as Cincinnati’s hitters try to break out of their slump.

“We’re not going to have a situation where it’s ‘us’ when we win and it’s ‘they’ when we lose,” Francona said. “We’ll do this together.”

Francona said there’s no common thread between the games that explains his lineup’s struggles. The Reds have faced different styles of pitchers each time.

Eovaldi is a veteran right-hander who went the distance while allowing four hits and no walks. Leiter’s a hard-throwing rookie right-hander. Cortes, a veteran left-hander, doesn’t have the velocity of Eovaldi or Leiter but effectively mixed his cutter and changeup with his fastball.

Cincinnati’s struggles Thursday may have been particularly frustrating because Cortes looked so awful in his last start, a 20-9 loss to the New York Yankees. Cortes allowed homers on each of his first three pitches that day and ended up yielding eight hits and five walks in two innings of a game that drew attention to the Yankees’ use of “torpedo bats.”

The Reds made Cortes look like an entirely different pitcher.

“It was embarrassing, what happened to me last time,” Cortes said. “I think, as a starter, you’ve got 30 or 32 of these. There’s going to be a lot of bad ones throughout the way. You’ve just got to learn how to brush them off and go to the next one. That’s what I did.”

The Reds’ lone hit off Cortes came from Jose Trevino, who delivered a one-out double in the third off his former Yankees teammate. Cincinnati’s only other hit Thursday was a single by Jeimer Candelario off Elvis Peguero in the seventh.

Cincinnati has a combined nine hits, three walks and 27 strikeouts during the skid.

“To be totally honest, you see this all the time throughout a baseball season,” Trevino said. “Pitchers will pick up the hitters and the hitters will pick up the pitchers. It will all switch at some point. We’re going to need them. They’re going to need us. And at some point, we’re all going to be together. That’s just how the baseball season goes.

“Right now, our pitchers are doing really well and our hitters, we’re grinding. It’s not like we’re out there trying to give outs away. We’re out there putting some good at-bats together. We’re going to turn this thing around. I have full confidence in this team.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dodgers’ Freeman placed on IL after shower slip

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Dodgers' Freeman placed on IL after shower slip

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who slipped and fell in the shower Sunday morning, was put on the injured list for his ankle injury, the team announced Thursday.

The move is retroactive to Monday. He hasn’t played since Saturday and is 3-for-12 this season with two home runs and four RBIs.

The incident happened at home during the Dodgers’ off day. Freeman’s wife had to drive him to Dodger Stadium on Sunday for a three-hour treatment session. By the time it was over, he was able to drive himself home. An X-ray showed no serious damage.

Freeman sprained his right ankle on a play at first base in late September and struggled in the first two rounds of the postseason, but it was hardly evident during the World Series. He homered in the first four games and had 12 RBIs, earning the World Series MVP award as the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games.

He had debridement surgery in December to remove loose bodies in the ankle.

The Dodgers (8-0) begin a three-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge gets 500th extra-base hit; 3rd-fastest Yank

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Judge gets 500th extra-base hit; 3rd-fastest Yank

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge smiled and perhaps blushed when informed of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s praise.

“We all tell him every day: ‘Hey, we want to be you when we grow up,'” Chisholm said after Judge became the third-fastest New York Yankees player to reach 500 extra-base hits with a three-run homer in the first inning of Thursday night’s 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And the two players who reached the mark in fewer games than Judge? Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.

“When I’m an old man coming to Old-Timers Day, I can look back and we can joke about it and laugh about it,” Judge said.

Coming off his second American League MVP award, Judge fell a triple short of the cycle and is hitting .417 with five homers and 15 RBIs in the first six games this season. He has 320 homers, 175 doubles and five triples in 999 games, and only DiMaggio (853) and Gehrig (869) reached 500 extra-base hits in fewer games among Yankees.

“I feel like he’s still getting there, which is remarkable,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s that part of me that takes him for granted a little bit. I just feel like he should get an extra-base hit every time. I kind of say it out loud just to try and remind myself what we’re watching every day.”

Judge lined a 1-1 fastball from Merrill Kelly at 112.1 mph to the opposite field and into the Yankees’ bullpen for a 3-0 lead. He added a run-scoring single in the fourth inning as the Yankees moved ahead 7-3 and hit a 111.3 mph double in the sixth. He also flied out and hit a 109.5 mph groundout.

“I’m like, did you miss that one?” Boone recalled, laughing. “I catch myself having these ridiculous conversations with him sometimes, just because he keeps setting the bar so darn high.”

Judge knows he’s in for ribbing when he singles or doubles.

“He gives me a little smirk when I get on base like that,” he said.

Judge also stole his first base of the season, as did Chisholm. Judge swiped 10 last year to Chisholm’s 40.

“I told him I was going to catch him in stolen bases this year,” Judge said playfully.

“He’s starting to steal bags now. It’s just getting ridiculous out of him, man,” Chisholm said.

Chisholm and Trent Grisham hit two-run homers off Kelly (1-1), who allowed a career-high nine runs, nine hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. Chisholm is hitting .292 with four homers and eight RBIs.

“I’m OK compared to him. I’m trying to get to his level right now,” Chisholm said of Judge. “I told him I’m not going to try to fall behind him too far. I got to keep up with him.”

New York had 22 homers on a 4-2 opening homestand, five more than any other team ever hit in its first six games. Even though it was game No. 6, the Yankees felt an urgency after losing the Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Big G said a couple words before the game, just about this was our home turf. We got to go out there and we don’t get swept at home,” he said of Giancarlo Stanton. “Guys took that to heart.”

Carlos Carrasco (1-0) got his first Yankees win, giving up three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. After New York opened a 9-3 lead, Geraldo Perdomo hit a seventh-inning grand slam off Ryan Yarbrough. Luke Weaver got four outs for his first save this season, ending Arizona’s three-game winning streak.

Judge repeatedly refers to last year’s World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It weighs on him far more than historical accomplishments.

“Especially after last season where we weren’t able to finish the job, guys are motivated to go out and do something special,” he said. “It starts every game you play.”

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