Shohei Ohtani and Japan trained on Tuesday ahead of their World Baseball Classic quarter-final clash with Italy.
The Pool B champions and WBC title favourites face Italy in Tokyo Dome on Thursday with the winner advancing to the semi-finals in Miami.
Japanese managers normally not reveal their starting pitchers until game day and manager Hideki Kuriyama did not say on Tuesday if his two-way star Shohei Ohtani will take the mound against Italy.
Ohtani was Japan’s starting pitcher in their 8-1 WBC opening win against China, throwing four innings, striking out five and giving up just one hit while going 2-4 at the plate with 2 RBIs.
He would be in line to start against Italy, with San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish set to start the semi-final if Japan advance.
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