CHINA – Cleanup hitter Takahiro Arai tripled in two runs and starter Toshiya Sugiuchi pitched seven solid innings as Japan routed the Netherlands 6-0 Friday in the Beijing Olympic baseball preliminaries.

Japan started off scoring four hits in the first inning featuring Hanshin Tigers slugger Arai’s first hit in Beijing, while Takahiko G.G. Sato of the Seibu Lions added a solo homer in a two-run eighth in front of a crowd of 6,600 at Wukesong Baseball Field.

Softbank Hawks hurler Sugiuchi allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six, while Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Eagles fanned three despite walking two in the eighth and the Chunichi Dragons’ Kenshin Kawakami tossed a perfect ninth.

Japan now has two wins and a loss in the tournament in which the top four teams advance to the semifinals after the round-robin preliminaries.

“The offense in the first inning was splendid…Sugiuchi was perfect,” Japanese team manager Senichi Hoshino said, adding he is relieved that Arai was able to get his first hit. “Tomorrow’s game (against South Korea) will be crucial.”

Arai told reporters, “In the first and second games, I went on the defensive. Today I decided to just be aggressive in swinging my bat.”

In other preliminary-round action, Taiwanese batters scored four runs in the top of the 12th inning to break a 3-3 tie and newcomer China erupted for five runs in the bottom frame to upset Taiwan 8-7 and claim the host country’s first-ever Olympic win.

The game was the first to go into extra innings at the Beijing Games where a tiebreaker format under which runners are placed on first and second base with no outs after 10 innings is being used.

In another extra-inning game, three-time champion Cuba edged the United States 5-4 in the 11th to claim its third victory in a row, and South Korea blanked Canada 1-0.

Source: JapanBall.com

Tags: Japan, Netherlands