WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS Group winners Japan and Venezuela both made successful starts to the Super Round with victories over USA and Chinese Taipei respectively in Tokyo on Thursday.
In the glamour game of the day, defending champions and world No. 1 Japan clinched a 9-1 win over world No. 5 USA in a repeat match up of the World Baseball Classic final last year.
The win achieved in front of over 25,000 fans in a brilliant atmosphere in the Tokyo Dome is the 25th consecutive international win for Samurai Japan.
“The win that really matters is the one we earned today,” commented Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata when asked about the winning streak. “Of course, all those wins matter. They belong to many other managers and players from the past and make us all proud. But we are not thinking about the streak. We want to concentrate on the next game and winning that game on that day.”
The game developed as a pitching duel for the first four innings between Japan’s 22-year-old starting pitcher Hiroto Takahashi and USA’s Rich Hill aged 44. “Don’t look at his age,” USA manager Mike Scioscia said about Hill. “Rich still has his talent, he can still perform at the top level. He gave us four strong innings.”
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Earlier in the day, Venezuela opened their Super Round account with an impressive 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei which saw catcher Carlos Perez homer on the first pitch he saw from Chinese Taipei starter Tzu-Peng Huan in the bottom of the fourth.
“I was after a breaking ball. He threw me a slider that hung just enough for me to make good contact,” said Perez post game.
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Venezuela qualified for the Super Round after winning four out of five games in Group A in Mexico while Japan went through Group B unbeaten as part of a 24-game winning streak.
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