Asian Games baseball rematch: Japan defeated South Korea 5-0, led by Higuchi Shinjo

Japan's starting left-hander Arata Higuchi. (Taken from the Japanese team’s official social media X)

[Reporter Lin Youchen/Taipei Report] On the first day of the Asian Games rematch in Nagoya, the Japanese team went out to compete against the South Korean team that was seeking consecutive championships. They relied on starting left-hander Higuchi's new main pitch to only allow 4 hits and walk out 4 in 7 innings. No runs were allowed with three strikeouts and 0 walks. Soichiro Kayo and Yoshiki Buchigami each pitched one inning. The three pitchers teamed up to block the game. The Japanese team still maintained a complete victory and defeated the South Korean team 5:0.

The South Korean team is seeking to win consecutive championships. Not only are the entire team composed of Korean professional players, but half of the main players are also members of the national team in the Classic. Faced with Higuchi's new blockade today, the Japanese team only had 4 hits in the game. After the third inning of Yamakio's double with an RBI, the Japanese team has remained undefeated. Higuchi Arata once again pitched well after striking out 10 times in 6 innings against China in the preliminaries.

In recent years, everyone in Japanese society has recommended that the coalition team participate in the Asian Winter League held by secondary schools, and their strength is obvious to all. Arata Higuchi came to Taiwan last year in the Winter League. At that time, he pitched in 4 games and started 3 of them, totaling 15.2 innings, 16 strikeouts, 5 walks, 17 hits, and an ERA of 2.30.

Moki Mukayama, who scored the first score for the Japanese team today, participated in the Winter League in 2019. At that time, he played 17 games, accumulated 2 home runs, and had a batting average of 315%.