(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by WBSC)
    Samurai Japan records Perfect Game in second win vs. Europe in Global Games
Nederlands
 OSAKA (Japan) -
Samurai Japan also won the second game against Team Europe in the Global Baseball Games, which was played on Thursday-evening (March 7).
Japan again recorded a shutout-win, 2-0.
And Japan did it in dominating fashion, as six pitchers threw a Combined Perfect Game!
On Wednesday, Japan won the first game with a 5-0 score.
Both games of the Global Baseball Games were played in the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, the home Oryx Buffaloes, which plays in Nippon Professiobal Baseball (NPB).
In Japan, the series is called Samurai Japan Series.
In today's game, Japan scored in the second and eighth inning.
Both runs were unearned, as errors were involved.
Japan, which was the visiting team today, opened the score in the second inning off of starter Markus Solbach from Germany.
Shunsuke Tamura then reached second base on an error and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kuudai Yamamoto.
In the eighth inning, European reliever Fernando Baez gave up a double to pinch-hitter Chusei Mannami and walked Kaito Kozono.
Baez (from Spain) was then relieved by Italian Matteo Bocchi.
With two outs, he saw Kotaro Kurebayashi reach on an error, which enabled Mannami to score from second base.
...Riccardo Fraccari, President of the World Baseball Softball...
...Confederation (WBSC), oversees the field of the Osaka Dome...
...before the start of Game 2 of the Global Baseball Games...
(© Photo: WBSC via X) |
Japan produced only five basehits off of seven pitchers, but that proved to be enough for the win.
Solbach gave up one basehit in two innings.
Japan then added two hits off of Lars Huijer, who threw the next two innings.
Huijer was relieved by Tiago da Silva, who threw a hitless fifth inning.
Hereafter, Sven Schueller (1 inning) and Fernando Baez (1 1/3 inning) each gave up a basehit.
Matteo Bocchi (2/3 inning) and Kevin Kelly (1 inning) held Japan hitless in the remainder of the game.
Six Japanese pitchers allowed no European player to reach base and struckout 15 batters.
Starter Yumeto Kanemaru struckout four of the six batters in the two innings he was on the mound.
Kanemura was one of four college-players on the Samurai Japan-roster.
Chichiro Sumida, Japan's fifth pitcher in the game, did the same while throwing the sixth and seventh inning.
Atsuki Taneiki, who threw the final two innings for Japan, added three more strikeouts.
Europe came closest to a basehit in the seventh inning when Delano Selassa (Netherlands) hit a line drive into left/centerfield.
However, centerfielder Misho Nishikawa made a great diving catch to not only keep the No-Hitter intact, but also the Perfect Game.
In the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Wander Encarnación (Spain) came close to a lead-off homerun, but the ball ended up in foul territory.
In a game-report by the WBSC, it was reported that more than 25,000 spectators attended today's game.
The last time that Samurai Japan played a series against Europe was in March 2015.
Back then, the series was called Global Baseball Match and was played in the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo.
Japan won the first game 4-3, then Europe won the next day with a 6-2 score.
(March 7)
|
