CHINA – Yoshihisa Naruse pitched seven sharp innings striking out 10 batters and Atsunori Inaba broke a scoreless tie with a homer in the fifth inning as Japan edged Canada 1-0 in preliminary action at the Beijing Olympic Games on Monday.

Senichi Hoshino’s team improved to 3-2 in the round-robin stage to move a step closer to a spot in the semifinals, while Canada suffered its fourth defeat of the tournament.

”I never really expected winning to be this difficult even after so many years in baseball, but international baseball is like this,” Hoshino said. ”But the players really did a good job today.”

Lotte Marines left-hander Naruse diced up Canada’s lefty lineup allowing just two hits with no walks, mixing in his fastball and slider on the outside corner at Wukesong Baseball Field.

”I tried to remain composed. (Lotte catcher Tomoya) Satozaki told me that my pitches were better than during the regular season. It’s not over yet, so I just want to be ready to pitch like I did today in my next game,” Naruse said.

Hanshin Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa pitched the eighth and Yomiuri Giants pitcher Koji Uehara closed out the ninth. Chris Begg allowed one run and four hits in 5-1/3 innings for Canada.

Canada threatened in the fourth when Emmanuel Garcia got a one-out single followed by a double down the right-field line by Michael Saunders, putting runners at second and third. But Naruse struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Inaba homered over the right-center wall to lead off the next frame to give Japan the lead.

”That was really the only pitch that was kind of easy to hit. The other ones were on the corner and very difficult,” Inaba said.

”I felt really comfortable with my batting for the first time in a while,” added Inaba, who is 4-for-19 thus far in Beijing.

Canadian manager Terry Puhl, said, ”Another well-played ballgame. We’ve thrown the same type of game out again with little offense but great pitching. We just couldn’t generate offense when it was needed.”

Japan almost added another run in the ninth when Masahiko Araki led off with a single and reached third with no outs on a botched pick-off attempt, but reliever Steve Green got out of the jam.

Japan will face host China in its next game on Tuesday.

Courtesy: JapanBall.com

Tags: Canada, Japan