Japan – USA 2-4 (11)
USA 000 000 000 04 4 5 0 JPN 000 000 000 02 2 5 0
Box score
Recap on USA Baseball
After both teams put zeros on the board for the first ten innings, Team USA took full advantage of the IBAF tiebreaker rule in the eleventh to defeat Japan 4-2. The USA now takes on Cuba on Friday in the semis, with Japan battling Korea in the other.
Both pitching staffs were locked into a duel nearly over the whole game and only the new rule, which puts runners at first and second at the start of each frame following the tenth, ended the scoring drought. Brian Barden, Nate Schierholtz and Matt Brown produced consecutive RBI singles to put three runs on the board. A RBI groundout by John Gall led to another run.
Japan cut the deficit to two runs in the bottom of the frame through two-out RBI singles by Atsunori Inaba and Hiroyuki Nakajima. But after a wild pitch and a walk, Casey Weathers (S 1) recovered and finished the win with a flyout to first.
Both teams rotated on the mound, giving some pitchers work. The Americans started with Trevor Cahill (USA), who went three innings, allowing just one walk. Yu Darvish (JPN) struck out three in two perfect periods, opposing him. Jeff Stevens (W 1-2) picked up the win for two innings of relief. Hitoki Iwase (L 0-2) took the loss.