Keita Watanabe made sure his first start at Citizen Field was a memorable one.
Watanabe pitched a 7 inning masterpiece including seven strikeouts to lead Japan to an 11-1 win over the Kamloops Sun Devils on Monday to improve to 3-0 at the Ramada 2016 World Baseball Challenge.
After a quiet start to the game, Japan would carry a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 4th inning when Kamloops would have it’s best offensive rally of the game after an RBI double by Prince George product Brandon Hunter would cut the advantage to 2-1.
The Sun Devils had a bases loaded opportunity to break the game open but an Ian Horne put-out created at 1-2-3 double to get out of the jam.
Japan would unleash the bats in the 6th courtesy of RBI hits from Tanaka Shunta (single) and Genda Sosuke (double) followed by scoring on a passed ball.
A 5 run 7th inning soon followed which was highlighted by a 3-run homer by catcher Takeshi Kunimoto extending the lead to 10-1.
Kunimoto says he got a good pitch. “I got an opportunity to hit it hard and got the best outcome out of it.”
Watanabe states his main focus was producing a strong outing on the mound. “I wanted to make sure I stopped every batter I faced and to limit their opportunities at the plate.”
The game was called at the end of the 8th after Japan secured a 10 run lead.
Japan has scored 11 runs in each game.
Sun Devils pitcher Erick Herbranson took the loss for Kamloops after allowing three earned runs on six hits through six innings of work.
Japan returns to action on Wednesday at 4PM against the Thurston County Senators while the Sun Devils play Sidearm Nation at 8PM tonight.