Inaba hit helps lift Japan over Taiwan in baseball prelims

Friday 15th August, 07:01 AM JST

BEIJING —

Atsunori Inaba hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning Thursday, helping Japan beat Taiwan 6-1 for its first victory in the baseball preliminaries at the Beijing Olympic Games. Japan’s offense finally came alive in a four-run ninth—featuring a bases-loaded, two-run single by Hiroyuki Nakajima—to put the game out of reach. Both Japan and Taiwan have one win and one loss so far in the preliminary round. Taiwan got on the scoreboard first when Peng Cheng-min doubled leading off the fourth and Chiang Chih-hsien hit an RBI single to make it 1-0, but a solo homer by Yomiuri Giants slugger Shinnosuke Abe tied it up in the fifth. Norichika Aoki singled to lead off the sixth and moved to second on a Masahiko Morino sacrifice bunt, setting up Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Inaba’s single one out later to give Japan the lead at Wukesong Baseball Field.

Starter Hideaki Wakui of the Seibu Lions struck out six and allowed one run on three hits in six innings to take the win, and Hitoki Iwase, Kyuji Fujikawa and Koji Uehara combined to hold off Taiwan’s offense in the last three innings. ‘‘I had a chance when I got up to bat and I wanted to make the best of it,’’ Inaba said. ‘‘We’re not in bad shape. Hopefully this win will help motivate us to keep winning.’’ Japan got off to a shaky start with a 4-2 defeat to defending champion Cuba the previous day, but ‘‘Hoshino Japan’’ had plenty to smile about on Thursday. ‘‘I felt we had a chance to win when Shinnosuke hit that homer right after they scored against us,’’ said Japan team manager Senichi Hoshino. ‘‘It took a while after that but Inaba had a great clutch hit. We have to take extra precautions in every way in our next game,’’ he said. In other preliminary-round action, the United States blanked the Netherlands 7-0 for its first win, while three-time champion Cuba prevailed 7-6 over Canada for its second victory in a row. The game between South Korea and China was postponed due to rain.

Kyodo

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8 Comments

smithinjapan at 10:01 AM JST - 15th August

Good to see them taking advantage of chances.... good luck in the next games!
ExPrinceska at 12:22 PM JST - 15th August

Very good, I am so happy for Japan's baseball win! This Darvish guy is so good!
USNinJapan2 at 12:49 PM JST - 15th August

ExPrinceska

Darvish? You mean good looking right? Because he didn't pitch in this win against Taiwan and he was the losing pitcher in Japan's recent loss to Cuba...
ExPrinceska at 12:56 PM JST - 15th August

He did not pitch against Taiwan? oops, what can I say, I got confused, hazukashii.... I thought he was pretty good against Cuba...
Bovinus at 01:39 PM JST - 15th August

Japan won? Without its stars? Or were they just better that day and only that day?
USNinJapan2 at 03:59 PM JST - 15th August

Yu Darvish, pretty good against Cuba? Let's see...

Darvish (0-1) allowed four runs in four innings, with four walks, seven hits and six strikeouts. “He was not in good form,” his manager said. “He didn’t do his job today.” (Cuba beats Japan 4-2 in Olympic baseball opener; Thursday 14th August, 03:52 AM JST)

Darvish allowed all four of Cuba's runs. About all he did was look like a good pitcher...
northlondon at 04:56 PM JST - 15th August

If the Japanese baseball team don't come home with gold then questions need to be asked. It is a pro All-Star team, comprising the best professionals in the Central and Pacific leagues. Not very Olympic-like however.
smithinjapan at 05:25 PM JST - 15th August

Northlondon: All of the teams in the Olympics, perhaps the Netherlands excepted, are pro, 'all-star' teams, my friend. Japan only need ask itself questions if it loses... the world can let it go.