Over 46,000 fans watched Roki Sasaki pitch in the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night. The fans cheered every strikeout and murmurs of astonishment shot through the crowd each time Sasaki’s pitches reached 161 kph (100 mph) or above on the radar gun.

There were also cheers in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Sasaki’s hometown, where residents watched the game during a public viewing and saw one of their own, who overcame tragedy just as they had, have success with the whole baseball world watching.

Sasaki struck out eight batters in his WBC debut and outfielder Masataka Yoshida had another big night as Japan rallied back from an early deficit for a 10-2 victory over the Czech Republic in front of a crowd of 41,647.

“I’m happy I was able to pitch with the dome full of fans,” Sasaki said.

Japan improved to 3-0 at the WBC following one-sided wins over China (8-1), South Korea (13-4) and the Czech Republic.

The Japanese will play their final Pool B game on Sunday night against Australia, which improved to 2-0 with a win over China earlier in the day.

Sasaki blew his fastball by the Czechs and had them swinging in vain at his forkball. He allowed his only run in the first inning when Marek Chlup doubled and later scored on a throwing error by Takumu Nakano.

“I threw a lot of balls, but I think I was able to use my forkball effectively,” Sasaki said.

He left the mound in the middle of the third after reaching the tournament’s first-round 65-pitch limit.

“I have to be relieved during an inning and my pitch count piled up, but I’m glad I was able to only allow the minimum number of runs,” he said.

Sasaki’s WBC debut came on what was likely an emotional day for the 21-year-old Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher. Saturday was exactly 12 years to the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The disaster battered the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan, with Rikuzentakata among the hardest-hit areas. Sasaki’s father and grandparents died in the disaster and he was forced to relocate to nearby Ofunato after his home was destroyed.

Sasaki later became a star at Ofunato High School and is one of the might highly touted young pitchers in the world. In April 2022, he made global headlines with a 19-strikeout perfect game for the Marines.

He was the winning pitcher on Saturday, with Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish both watching from the dugout.

Yoshida had his second straight multihit game, finishing 2-for-2 with three RBIs. He was 3-for-3 with five RBIs in the team’s victory over South Korea on Friday night.

Kensuke Kondo had two hits for the second straight night and drove in a run. Reigning Central League MVP Munetaka Murakami got his first hit of the WBC with a single in the eighth after going hitless in the previous two games.

The Czechs are the WBC’s feel-good story, a team of players who have day jobs outside of baseball and play for the love of the sport. They qualified for the WBC for the first time this year and defeated China in their first game.

They took an early lead against Japan but could not hold it for long.

Former MLB player Eric Sogard had two of the team’s four hits against Japan’s pitchers (Sasaki, Yuki Udagawa and Hiroya Miyagi), who combined for 16 strikeouts.

While Sasaki was busy lighting up the radar gun for Japan, Czech starter Ondrej Satoria was doing the opposite with his mix of fastballs and changeups. Satoria’s fastest pitch was clocked at 127 kph, but he kept the Japanese off-balance long enough to get through the first two innings without allowing a run.

He gave up a one-out double against Kondo in the third and then struck out Shohei Ohtani. He was a strike away from getting out of the inning without allowing a run but missed with a 3-2 change-up against Murakami.

Yoshida made Satoria pay for the mistake with a two-run double and Tetsuto Yamada followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-1.

Japan piled on from that point.

Lars Nootbaar drove in a run with a single in the fourth and Kondo and Ohtani hit run-scoring doubles. Yoshida added a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-1.

Martin Cervenka hit an RBI groundout for the Czech Republic in the top of the fifth, but Japan answered with an RBI single by Taisei Makihara in the bottom half.

Shugo Maki hit his second homer of the WBC in the eighth inning and Hotaka Yamakawa had a sacrifice fly to make the score 10-2.