Tien-Mou/Taipei City. The last game going into the rest day on Tuesday turned out to be a marathon affair. Japan battled Brazil through seven innings and 2:44 hours for a 10-6 victory. Four runs in the top of the first extra innings were needed for the favorite to prevail. They are now 5-0, solidifying first place in the Group A standings. Brazil dropped to 2-2.
Brazil gave Japan a good fight. In the third the underdog from South America, which captured sixth place in the 2011 event, scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Victor Guenji had a big two-run single in the process. After Daichi Aoki answered with a solo home run for Japan in the top of the fourth, Brazil regained their three-run advantage on Victor Mascai’s RBI double in the bottom half of the same frame.
One inning later it seemed Japan would fulfill their expectations, scoring five runs to overcome the deficit and getting ahead 6-4. Aoki tied the game with a two-run double. An error at short helped Aoki and Shota Sawamura to score the go-ahead runs. But Brazil struck back immediately. Guenji stole home during a run down to cut the deficit to 5-6. A safety squeeze plated the tying run, which eventually sent the game into extra innings.
Japan was up first with the IBAF Extra Inning Rule in effect. A walk loaded the bases with no outs. Taiyo Ueda struck out and Aoki flied out to second, giving Brazil some hope. A bases loaded walk by Tomoharu on four straight balls however followed and gave Nippon the lead back. Two errors helped them to three insurance runs and basically sealed the victory.
Sawamura struck out the side after loading the bases with a walk to lead off the bottom half of the seventh. He picked up the win, pitching three scoreless innings of no-hit relief, punching out six. Guenji got charged with the loss, being responsible for five of the last six Japanese runs. All six were unearned.
Japan now will have two days off before closing out the first round at the II 12U Baseball World Cup on Thursday against Mexico. Brazil will face Italy on Wednesday and the Philippines on Thursday, hoping to win twice to reach the quarterfinals.
