Japan made a stellar start to their bid for baseball gold by crushing the Philippines 17–2 in their opening match.

The victory took just 70 minutes to complete, being called at the bottom of the fifth innings because Japan were 15 runs ahead.

It was as good as over after the first innings which saw Japan plunder eight runs from Charlie Labrador’s pitching. Labrador suffered a nightmare, conceding 10 runs in total, eight hits and striking batters on the body twice with errant pitches.

He was then substituted but his two replacements fared little better with Japan scoring runs at will.

A further seven came in a bumper fourth innings with Kanya Suzuki smashing a two-run homer over left field.

Japan pitcher Takuya Ishiguro was meanwhile enjoying a quieter time, forcing three strikeouts in a perfect display before coach Tazuru Kakino decided to rotate his squad.

That policy did bring some relief for the Philippines and they finally scored with a two-run triple by Nino Tator, to make the score 17–2.

It was brief respite though, and after a scoreless fifth innings the match was awarded to Japan.

Speaking after the game Japan coach Kakino said: “I was very pleased with our high concentration. All the players got a hit which will make them more relaxed for our next game. It is a very important match against Korea. If we can keep the score low we can win it. Today it was just important to win.”

Philippines team manager Eladio Baradas commented: “As long as we beat Thailand we will be okay. Japan was always going to be difficult but we have played Thailand a lot recently and our aim here is to beat them again.”

(dohaasiangames.org November 30, 2006)