arsenal–from Koji Uehara, who earned the win against South Korea. The park effects of Petco Park would prove to be favorable for Matsuzaka and would in turn make Cuba have a hard time batting due to their power batting style. Within the first four innings, Matsuzaka recorded five strikeouts to give the opportunity for the Japanese offense to largen their lead. In the fifth, Ichiro Suzuki hit a double to add two more runs, finishing the first half of the game with a six to one lead. Matsuzaka would exit the game right after this moment, and Cuba would respond aggressively offensively. A single-base hit made by Yuli Gurriel initiated Cuba's comeback, although Gurriel made the first base through an error by the Japanese defense. Soon after in the sixth inning, Ariel Borrero made first base through an earned hit and Osmani Urrutia would bat in both Gurriel and Borreo to make Japan's lead cut from five to three runs. The seventh inning served as a quiet pitching battle between both teams. However, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Frederich Cepeda would make a home run with a batter on base to cut the disparity to one run in favor of Japan. Japan would plan a hitting sequence in order to outplay Cuba offensively, as Japan specialized on contact hitting. The Japanese's performance of their fundamentals would show the most from Ichiro Suzuki, who would hit to the very right field and bat in Munenori Kawasaki to make the game seven to five runs. Japan would get on-base frequently throughout the inning, to the extent that the top of the ninth inning would end in ten to five runs. The offense would overwhelm the Cuban offense, as they were only able to score one more run in the bottom, finalizing Japan as the champion with ten to six runs as the score. Matsuzaka would be declared as the most valuable player of the tournament for setting the tone in the beginning of the game, particularly from intimidating the Cuban offense for four innings. Statistics Boxscore Top Bottom References External links Championship World Baseball Classic championship 2000s in San Diego Baseball competitions in San Diego Cuba–Japan relations International baseball competitions hosted by the United States International sports competitions in California World Baseball Classic championship ko:2006년 월드 베이스볼 클래식 경기 결과 zh:2006年世界棒球經典賽 (逐場比賽結果)