Japan beat Dominican Republic under the rain to head to Premier12 Super Round undefeated

World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 12 Dominican Republic, 11-3, to finish Group B of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS undefeated. The teams performed under the rain for most of the ninth.

"It was a difficult game because of the rain," commented Dominican manager César Martin. "It didn't rain hard, but it was constant. We had to use a lot of pitchers tonight. Japan played better and deserved to win, but I must congratulate my players because they gave all they had and stayed in the game until the ninth."

"We have some regrets about the games against Australia and Korea," he added on a final note. Unfortunately, we didn't perform as we wanted in the second half of these games."

Japan's manager, Hirokazu Ibata, was already thinking ahead. "Our goal has always been going to Super Round. I didn't expect to qualify with five wins and I'm happy for this, still my players know we have a lot to work on. We can improve both offensively and defensively."

Samurai Japan got on the scoreboard in the top of the first against Dominican starter Wili Peralta. Kotaro Kiyomiya reached on an infield single. Shota Morishita followed with a two-out single through the right side, and Peralta loaded the bases with a walk. After a nine-pitch duel, catcher Shogo Sakakura drew another walk, and Kiyomiya scored the first run.

The Dominican Republic needed only two batters to tie the game. José Devers reached on an infield single and scored when Alen Hanson got to Japanese starter Shosei Togo with a double down the right-field line.

The Dominican Republic took the lead in the bottom of the second. Andretty Cordero led off with a stand-up double. He scored on Michael De Leon's two-out RBI double to right field.

"I wasn't happy about the first two innings," said Japanese starter Shosei Togo, who made his international debut. "I struggled to control my split finger, and the Dominican Republic had scoring chances. But fro the third inning, communication with my catcher improved, I started using my fast up in the zone and my slider to change the rythm and things got better. I think tonight will be an experience if the manager asks me to pitch in the Super Round."

Japan tied the score in the top of the third. Shota Morishita reached on a one-out infield single. Reliever Henry Henry walked Ryoya Kurihara and Kotaro Kurebayashi. Morishita scored on Toshiya's Sato single to left field, but Kurebayashi became the third out at third before Kurihara could score the go-ahead run.

Japan took control of the game in the top of the fifth. Hector Perez, the fourth Dominican pitcher, took the mound and allowed back-to-back walks. Kurihara followed with an RBI single, and Shogo Sakakura extended the lead to 4-2 with another base hit.

Dominican manager César Martin handed the ball to Dionys Rodriguez. With runners at the corners, Kelvin Gutierrez got to Kotaro Kurebayashi's hard grounder and started a double play with the throw to second. Kurihara scored the fifth run from third.

Haruto Inoue took the mound for Japan in the bottom of the fifth.

Kelvin Gutierrez added a run for the Dominican Republic in the bottom of the sixth. He walked and thrived on a throwing error and a wild pitch.

Japan took the run back against Gerald Ogando in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Yuto Koga.

The Premier12 defending champions loaded the bases against Wilber Perez, the eighth Dominican pitcher of the night, in the top of the ninth. Kotaro Kurebayashi opened the score to 8-3 with a to-RBI single.

Diego Castillo took the mound for the Dominican Republic. Sato looked at a ball and slashed the second offering to left field for an RBI double. Two more runs scored on a double by Ryota Isobata, sealing the score to 11-3.

Chihiro Sumida, Rikuto Yokoyama and Koki Kitayama took care of the final nine outs for Samurai Japan.