China 001 000 000 1 5 3 Japan 122 000 20X 7 8 0
Samurai Japan celebrated its third win in three games during the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. On Friday evening they beat China 7-1 and clinched the number one seed for the second, which will be played with Japan, Cuba, Netherlands and Israel at the Tokyo Dome.
Seiji Kobayashi and Sho Nakata hit home runs in the first three innings, when Japan’s offense erupted for five runs en route to a 5-1 lead. Ray Chang drove in China’s lone run in the third. Shota Takeda conceded four hits, a run and a walk in three innings to pick up the win. Quan Gan got charged the loss.