Japan beat Taiwan 4-2 in the 2013 Japan vs Taiwan Baseball Challenge game at the Hsinchuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night.
Miscues on the defensive side of the ball cost the hosts dearly as two of Japan’s runs were set up by the pair of errors that the Taiwanese defense committed.
That wasted a solid effort by Taiwan starter Wang Yao-lin, who cruised through the first four frames unharmed with a 1-0 lead, pitching two-hit ball against a Japanese lineup that struck out five times against the righty.
Taiwan jumped to a quick 1-0 lead against Japanese starter Yasuhiro Ogawa in the bottom of the first, when Chen Pin-chieh led off the inning with a single, stole second, and scored on Chiang Chih-hsien’s RBI single.
The lead lasted until the fifth as back-to-back doubles by Japan’s Hideto Asamura and Shogo Akiyama tied the game at 1-1, before the visitors took the lead on Motohiro Shima’s RBI single.
Although Taiwan tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth with a run off Japanese reliever Yudai Ohno, the visitors claimed a 4-2 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on the strength of errors by the Taiwan defense to set up Akiyama’s sacrifice fly and Ryosuke Hirata’s RBI single.
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