BOX SCORE & PLAYS | CUMULATIVE STATS
TOKYO – Team USA fell to Japan, 9-1, in its first Super Round game of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 presented by RAXUS on Thursday night at the Tokyo Dome.
Kaito Kozono drove in seven runs in the win for Japan (6-0, 1-0), tying Matt Shaw’s Premier12 single game RBI record set last week against the Netherlands.
Despite Japan’s high scoring output, Thursday night’s game began as a pitcher’s duel. U.S. starter Rich Hill put up zeroes for the first four innings of the contest, allowing just one hit while striking out five. Japan’s Hiroto Takahashi matched Hill on the other side, striking out eight batters and yielding just two hits and a walk over four shutout innings.
The offense began once both teams went to the bullpen. Team USA (3-3, 0-1) struck first in the top of the fifth, when Colby Thomas smoked the second pitch thrown by Chihiro Sumida over the left field wall to put the United States in front 1-0. The homer was the stars and stripes’ 10th as a team at the Premier12, tying them for the most in the tournament field.
The one-run U.S. lead was short-lived, however, as Japan responded for three runs in the bottom of the fifth as part of nine unanswered tallies to put the game out of reach. Darrell Thompson replaced Hill in the fifth and retired the first batter on a ground out before three consecutive hits–including an RBI double by Shogo Sakakura–knotted the game at one. Austin Vernon relieved Thompson and nearly limited the damage, but Kozono ripped a two-out triple down the right field line to give Japan a 3-1 lead.
Still locked in a 3-1 game, Japan got to the United States’ bullpen to pull away in the seventh. Two consecutive batters were hit by a pitch to set the table for Kozono, who continued his hot night with a three-run homer to right field to put the home team up 6-1 and send the crowd into a frenzy. An inning later, Masayuki Kuwahara hit an RBI single and Kozono hit his second homer in as many innings, a two-run shot that gave Japan a 9-1 advantage.
Rikuto Yakoyama then entered for the ninth and allowed a walk and a hit, but the contest ended when Carson Williams was thrown out diving back into third base as Japan secured the 9-1 Super Round win.
Kozono drove in seven of Japan’s nine runs. The second baseman had three hits and scored twice, both times on his own home runs. Team USA collected six hits overall, including a two-hit night for Termarr Johnson. Chandler Simpson stayed hot at the plate with an eighth-inning single and now has a hit in all six Premier12 games for the stars and stripes. Thomas’ fifth-inning homer and Williams’ second-inning double accounted for Team USA’s only two extra-base hits of the night.
Japan used five pitchers on Thursday, combining for 16 strikeouts. Every pitcher struck out at least one batter for the victors, including Sumida’s (2-0) three punch outs over two innings in his winning effort. Hill continued his strong tournament for the U.S. with his four strong innings; the veteran southpaw still owns a 0.00 ERA through three starts and 10.1 innings pitched. Spencer Patton turned in his fourth scoreless frame out of the bullpen. Thompson (0-1) suffered the loss after being tagged for three runs in 0.1 innings pitched.
Team USA returns to action on Friday, taking on Chinese Taipei in Premier12 Super Round action. First pitch from the Tokyo Dome is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. local/10:00 p.m. ET (Nov. 21), and all the action can be watched live on DAZN.
