On this date in USA Baseball history, Team USA opened the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with an instant classic against Japan. After six scoreless innings and still tied throughout nine, the second game of the Olympics became the longest in history since baseball became a medal sport. Mike Neill gave Team USA its first Olympic win with a two-run walk-off home run in extra innings.
Ben Sheets threw seven scoreless innings on the mound and recorded three strikeouts for Team USA before reaching his pitch count for the day. Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka held Team USA off until the bottom of the seventh when John Cotton tripled to lead off the inning. Cotton put Team USA on the board after coming around on a single by Mike Kinkade. A hit-and-run by Doug Mientkiewicz moved Kinkade to third and a Marcus Jensen fielder’s choice brought the score to 2-0 for Team USA.
Japan answered with a run in both the eighth and ninth innings and forced the game into extras. Ryan Franklin took over on the mound for Team USA and threw four shut-out innings, tallying four strikeouts along the way.
In the bottom of the 13th inning, Mike Neil hit a towering two-run home run to right field and gave Team USA a 4-2 walk-off win over Japan.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | R | H | E | |
| JPN | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| USA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3 |
| Win: R. Franklin Loss: T. Sugiuchi | Box Score |
#OTD 20 years ago, we began our road to #Sydney2000 Olympic 🥇 in walkoff fashion with a 13-inning victory over Japan.
— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) September 17, 2020
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QUOTABLES
- “I wouldn’t say anything about it was normal. I got caught up in the moment. It was an unbelievable feeling, because I knew it was gone when I hit it. It was an intense game, and I’m glad it’s over with.” Mike Neil (Baseball America, Miracle on Grass)
- "We’ve got a good ballclub. I think we have a pretty complete team, because we played great defense today, we showed we can pitch and have a good bullpen, and we have a little power.” Tommy Lasorda (Baseball America)
- “This is bigger than the Dodgers, bigger than Major League Baseball. We’re doing this for America.” Tommy Lasorda (Miracle on Grass)
