The Japanese baseball team won a come-from-behind victory in the second practice game ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC). However, Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix Buffaloes), who will play a part in the starting lineup, gave up 2 points and showed a shaky appearance.
The Japanese baseball team, led by head coach Hideki Kuriyama, won 4-2 in a practice match against the Softbank Hawks held at Sunmarine Stadium in Miyazaki, Japan on the 26th.
Japan, which defeated Softbank 8-4 the previous day (25th), won both actual matches after the national team was summoned.
Expected to start in the 4th match against Australia in the 1st round of the WBC, Yamamoto threw the ball up to 153km that day, recording 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts and 2 runs (1 earned) in 3 innings. He was the only one among the six Japanese pitchers who pitched in this game.
After that, Keiji Takahashi (Yakult Swallows, 2 innings), Yuki Matsui (Rakuten Golden Eagles), Atsuki Asa (Hanshin Tigers), Taisei Ohta (Yomiuri Giants), Ryoji Kuribayashi (Hiroshima Toyo Carp, more than one inning) He climbed the mound in turn and pitched a scoreless pitch.
In the batting line, 2nd hitter Gensuke Kondo (Softbank) and 8th hitter Takumu Nakano (Hanshin) recorded multiple hits (two or more hits in one game) side by side
. Crisis came right after he withdrew with a strikeout on a swing.In the bottom of the
second inning, starting pitcher Yamamoto scored consecutive doubles from Tomoya Masaki and Freddy Galvis in the first out and allowed the first run.
Afterwards, in the second out and third base, Yamamoto had to throw Mimora Masaki to induce a grounder, but third baseman Murakami Munetaka (Yakult) made a mistake in throwing to first base, making the score 0-2.스포츠토토
In the top of the 3rd inning, Japan, which missed the chance to get first and second base safely, finally succeeded in scoring in the top of the 5th inning.
Yamada’s walk and Kondo’s hit made it to 1st and 3rd base safely, and when Kazuma Okamoto (Yomiuri) was at bat, Softbank’s pitcher made up 1 run.
Okamoto hit a ground ball to the second baseman on third base, but Shuto Ukyo (Softbank), who was the lead runner, stepped home and tied the game 2-2.
Japan turned the tide of the battle in the last attack in the top of the ninth inning. In the first out, Shuto’s hit and stolen base, and Genda Sosuke’s (Seibu Lions)’s timely hit, succeeded in a 3-2 turnaround. During this process, the opponent threw an error and became 1 out and 3 base, and Seiya Matsubara (Yomiuri), who was used as a substitute player because the active big leaguer could not join, hit a sacrifice fly and ran away 4-2 to win the game.
Darvish Yu (San Diego Padres), who is the only active MLB player to join the Japanese national team, missed both rounds of evaluation matches with Softbank.
Meanwhile, Japan is scheduled to hold two practice matches against the Chunichi Dragons at the Nagoya Dome on March 3 and 4.