Japan shut out Europe to open Global Baseball Games

World No. 1 Japan defeated Team Europe, 5-0, in front of 27,698 fans to open the Global Baseball Games in Osaka.

Japan's leadoff hitter Yasutaka Shiomi and his replacement Misho Nishikawa combined for two hits while Kensuke Kondoh and Kotaro Kurebayashi also collected two hits.

Six Japanese pitchers limited Europe to six hits in total with some help from Shiomi, who used his remarkable speed in centre field to keep Europe off the scoreboard. The visiting team reached third only once.

"Their staff impressed me," commented Team Europe's manager Marco Mazzieri. "Tonight, we faced Taira, Miyagi and Yamashita, who will have their chance to compete at the MLB level.

"My players deserve credit," Mazzieri said. "We played good defence, and I also saw brilliant at-bats. Liddi, in the sixth, got to Yamashita on a full count. We had three hits against an established closer like Kuribayashi. We would have scored, hadn't we lost the leadoff hitter in unlucky fashion.

"Our pitchers did well. We missed a couple of locations, and they took advantage of that. That's how good these hitters are."

"I was impressed by Europe's hitters," commented Japan's manager Hirokazu Ibata. "They proved they can handle fastballs."

The ceremonial first pitch of the CARNEXT SAMURAI JAPAN SERIES opener followed a silent prayer for the victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake. A pitcher from the local women's team officiated the pitch.

How It Happened

Japan took the lead in the bottom of the first. Yasutaka Shiomi led off with a hit. With one out, veteran left fielder Kensuke Kondoh doubled to left field. Munetaka Murakami followed with a base hit to score the first run. A two-out single by third baseman Kotaro Kurebayashi made it 2-0.

Shioni prevented Europe from scoring as he ran down a hard-hit fly to centre field with a runner at third.

Martin Schneider took the mound for Europe in the bottom of the second. With one out and a 2-2 count on the hitter, he left because of an injury in the third. Europe gave the ball to Dalton Von Schamann.

Kensuke Kondoh doubled in the bottom of the sixth with two runners on base to extend Japan's lead to 4-0. Daniel Alvarez relieved Von Schamann. He got Chusei Mannami to ground into a double play and got out of the inning.

Alvarez allowed a walk and a base hit with two outs in the sixth. Pinch hitter Misho Nishikava got to reliever Franklin Van Gurp with an RBI single to make it 5-0.

Europe had a scoring chance in the top of the ninth against Ryoji Kuribayashi. Pinch hitter Wander Encarnacion led off with a hit, but became the first out at second. He would have scored on back-to-back hits by catcher Martin Cervenka and pinch hitter Martin Muzik.

EUROPE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 (6 hits, 0 errors)
JAPAN 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 x = 5 (11 hits, 0 errors)

JAPAN CF Yasutaka Shiomi (1-for-3; Misho Nishikawa 2-2), 2B-SS Kaito Kozono (1-3), LF Kensuke Kondoh (2-3; Shota Morishita 0-1), DH Munetaka Murakami (1-3), RF Chuesi Mannami (0-3; Shunsuke Tamura 0-1), 3B Kotaro Kurebayashi (2-4), SS Sosuke Genda (0-3; Takumu Nakano 0-1), C Shogo Sakakura (0-3; Yuto Koga 0-1), 1B Takaya Ishikawa (2-3).
PITCHERS PITCHERS Kaima Taira IP 2, K 0, BB 1, H 2, ER 0; Hiroya Miyagi IP 2, K 2, BB 0, H 0, ER 0; Masato Morishita IP 1, K 2, BB 0, H 1, ER 0; Shuempeita Yamashita IP 2, K 2, BB 0, H 1, ER 0; Haruka Nemoto IP 1, K 1, BB 0, H 1, ER 0; Ryoji Kuribayashi IP 1, K 2, BB 1, H 3, ER 0..

EUROPE CF Engel Beltre (0-for-3; Delano Selassa), RF Marek Chlup (0-3), 3B Alex Liddi (1-3; Encarnacion 1-1), C Martin Cervenka (1-3), 1B Juremi Profar (1-2; Marek Muzik), LF Daniel Jimenez (2-3; Noah Williamson 0-1), DH Alberto Mineo (0-2; Sharlon Schoop 0-1), SS Edison Valerio (0-3), 2B Ricardo Paolini (0-3).
PITCHERS Tom De Blok IP 1, K 1, BB 0, H 4, ER 2; Martin Schneider IP 1.1, K 1, BB 0, H 0, ER 0; Dalton Von Schamann IP 2, K 3, BB 0, H 4, ER 2; Daniel Alvarez 1.1 IP, K 0, BB 1, H 0, ER 1; Franklin Van Gurp IP 1.2, K 0, BB 0, H 1, ER 0; Luis Lugo IP 0.2, K 0, BB 0, H 2, ER 0;

Markus Solbach will start game two for Team Europe. Japan will hand the ball to Yumeto Kanemaru.

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