Taiwan – Japan 1-6
JPN 000 011 004 6 9 1 TPE 000 100 000 1 4 0
The final score of 6-1 is a bit misleading. Japan had to work hard to defeat Chinese Taipei at the Olympics to even their record at 1-1. Taiwan scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Chih-Hsien Chiang’s RBI single.
The hopes for a surprise didn’t last long, as Japan answered with a solo homerun by Shinnosuke Abe in the fifth and made it 2-1 in the sixth through a RBI single by Atsunori Inaba. They added four more in the top of the ninth to blow it open. Hiroyuki Nakajima hit a two-run single.
Hideaki Wakui (W 1-0) allowed three hits, a run and two walks in six innings to pick up the win. He struck out six. Wen-Hsiung Hsu (TPE) gave up three hits, a run and a walk in five innings. Fu-Te Ni (L 0-1) took the loss.