Japan KO’s Mexico 11-1 to win bronze at WBSC Premier12
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<p>TOKYO — The Samurai Japan National Team only needed seven innings to knock out Mexico, 11-1, in the bronze medal final of the first-ever WBSC Premier12 Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of more than 40,000.</p>
<p>After a stinging loss to South Korea Thursday night in the semifinals, Samurai Japan erupted for five home runs Saturday, capped off by Shogo Akiyama’s 2-run homerun in the 7th inning, which ended the game due to the 10-run mercy rule.</p>
<p>Japan built an 8-0 lead in the first two innings, led by two home runs by Tetsuto Yamada and two 2-run home runs by Sho Nakata and Nobuhiro Matsuda.</p>
<p>Mexico’s lone run came in the 6th inning when Juan Perez hit a solo home run off Japan relief pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano. Sugano earned the win for his three innings of relief, following Shota Takeda’s near-perfect first three innings.</p>
<p>The Samurai Japan National Team will be awarded $US 400,000 for the third-place finish, while Mexico will take home $US 300,000.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="nl">.<a href="https://twitter.com/samuraijapan_pr">@samuraijapan_pr</a> !!!! Bronze medal WINNERS !!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Premier12?src=hash">#Premier12</a> <a href="https://t.co/XniEpOhLD0">pic.twitter.com/XniEpOhLD0</a></p>
<p>— WBSC (@WBSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/WBSC/status/667959445763198976">November 21, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
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