This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
First, with Japan down 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th inning, and with 2 strikes on Kazutaka Katoh, Katoh (who had been quarantined and missed a couple games due to the measles) hit a bloop single to center that bounced off Taipei CF Chung-Yen Cheng's hand. Yuya Fukushima scored to tie the game at 3, then the battle began.
Junsho Kiuchi, who came into the game in the 5th inning, pitched brilliantly, continually set down the Taipei batters. But while Japan was getting their chances, including 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, they couldn't score. Kiuchi changed that with the line-drive sayonara home run to left field.
Japan moves on to the International Finals against Curacao, who also had a sayorara home run against heavily favored Venezuela. The game can be seen on ESPN on Saturday at 12:30 [what time zone?].