Baseball: Japan holds off Taiwan in preview of Premier12 final

Japan relief pitcher Tatsuya Shimizu came up huge in a 9-6 Premier12 victory over Taiwan on Saturday in an appetizer for Sunday's championship game.Japan and Taiwan entered the game having already clinched their spots in the final by virtue of the United States' 6-5 victory over Venezuela earlier in the day at Tokyo Dome.Reliever Shimizu protected a one-run fifth-inning lead by pitching out of a no-out bases-loaded jam.Samurai Japan took a 4-0 first-inning lead behind lefty Takahisa Hayakawa, only for Taiwan to threaten to overturn the game with a run in the third and two more in the fifth …READ FULL ARTICLE