The Japan national baseball team will play against Australia in a warm-up game for the WBC (World Baseball Classic) to be held in March next year, and No. 4 Munetaka Murakami will score effectively with a two-run home run in three games in a row. We repeated and won 8 to 1.

The Japanese national baseball team has been playing warm-up games since the 5th of this month for the WBC in March next year, and on the 9th they played against Australia, who will face each other in the first round of the qualifying at the Sapporo Dome.



It was the first game against an overseas team since Hideki Kuriyama took office last December, and Japan chasing one goal with one out in the second inning. I hit Lee and reversed with 2 to 1.



In the 5th inning, Munetaka Murakami, the youngest triple crown champion in history this season and the 4th batter in Japan, hit a two-run home run in 3 straight warm-up games from 1st base with 2 outs to take the lead. In the 6th inning, 9 batters scored 4 points and pushed Australia away.



In the pitching staff, starting pitcher DeNA and Shota Imanaga scored one point in the first inning due to an error by an ally, but they ran the fastest straight of 151 km and struck out four consecutive strikeouts, giving up one run in four innings. , showed a good pitching of 10 strikeouts that he took.



In addition, pitcher Shosei Togo, who was active as a starting pitcher for the Giants, pitched from the 5th inning, keeping no runs in the 4th inning with a straight ball of around 150 km and a fork ball with a large drop, and appealing on the mound for the first time.



Japan's pitching and batting performances led to an 8-1 victory over Australia, marking the first international victory for Kuriyama.



Japan will play a warm-up match against Australia on the 10th at the Sapporo Dome, and Lotte pitcher Aki Sasaki will be the starting pitcher.

Manager Kuriyama "All the players brought out their own characteristics"

Manager Hideki Kuriyama said about the batting line that hit 12 hits and scored 8 points, ``It was a game in which all the players showed their own characteristics and scored points.'' There are some opponent pitchers who couldn't make it, so I want to try to connect it to the next one," he braced himself.



Then, he said, "Tomorrow, the warm-up game will be the last and the next one will be the real thing. I want to check as much as possible during the game."

Imanaga “Raise rather than lower”

Pitcher Shota Imanaga looked back on his pitching with 1 goal and 10 strikeouts in the 4th inning, saying, ``I was pulled by the catcher Mori, who said that he could throw it higher than throwing it carefully low.''



Then, towards the WBC, he said strongly, "There are things that many seniors have built so far, so I want to do my best so that we can inherit them."

Togo: "Mr. Imanaga, the starting pitcher, connected me with a good flow."

Shosei Togo, who was the second pitcher to pitch from the 5th inning and showed good pitching without conceding a goal in the 4th inning, looked back, saying, ``Imanaga-san, the starting pitcher, connected me with a good flow, so I was able to take it easy.'' I was.



On the other hand, pitcher Togo, who is usually the starting pitcher, went up to the mound from the 5th inning, saying, "It was difficult because I don't often make shoulders with the bullpen in the middle of the game, but I'm glad I was able to keep it down." was talking