Japan defeated Australia, which mobilized 12 pitchers, and started the race to win the title for the second consecutive time. Japan gained 20 consecutive wins at international competitions. The Japanese team mainly composed of young players, but Japan remained strong.
The Japanese national baseball team won 9-3 against Australia in the opening round of Group B of the 2024 Premier 12 tournament at Banterindome Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 13th.
Starting pitcher Haruto Inoue became the winning pitcher with five hits, two runs and eight strikeouts in five innings. The bullpen pitchers then blocked four innings with one run.
In the lineup, Shota Morishita hit hard with three hits and two RBIs in four at-bats, Ryoya Gurihara had two hits and an RBI, and Shugo Maki, who played in the Japan Series, performed well with two hits and an RBI.
Japan, which scored the first run with Tatsumi Ryosuke’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning, also drew three consecutive walks to load the bases with one out and one more run on a ground ball to Australia’s third pitcher to make it 2-0.
Japan scored one more point in the bottom of the third inning with two hits and an opponent’s wild pitch, and widened the score to 3-0. In the second and third bases with one out, Japan made two hits in the bottom of the fourth inning, both runners homered and widened the score to 5-0.
Australia scored the first run with Ulrich Boyar’s solo home run to the middle of the sixth inning. Afterwards, Australia scored two more runs thanks to Rixon Wingrove’s two-run home run, trailing Japan by two runs.
However, Japan continued to score critical points after the seventh inning, perfectly securing the win. With runners on the third and one out in the seventh inning, Maki’s valuable RBI single made a timely hit. In the eighth inning, Moshi Rita’s two-run double to left-center and Kurihara combined for four more runs, widening the gap to 9-3 to secure the win. 카지노사이트
In the Japanese bullpen, Yokoyama, who came second to starter Inoue, allowed one run after a home run, but the rest of Fujihira Shoma, Suzuki Sora, and Shimizu Tatsuya kept their lead by blocking one inning each.
According to Japan’s Sankei Sports, Japan has won 20 consecutive international competitions since winning the second round of the Premier 12 against Mexico in 2019. Japan composed mainly of young Japanese professional baseball players amid the absence of big leaguers such as Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers), but showed strong performance as always. Japanese coach Ibata said, “A good trend came when Australia was chasing.”
