Baseball: Suzuki sets tone with homer as Japan wins last WBC warm-up

Seiya Suzuki provided the early fireworks Tuesday as Samurai Japan held off the Hanshin Tigers 5-4 in the national team's final warm-up game ahead of the World Baseball Classic.The Chicago Cubs slugger put skipper Hirokazu Ibata's team on the board with his solo home run to the upper deck beyond left field in the top of the first inning at Kyocera Dome Osaka.He also brought home Japan's third run with a sixth-inning groundout as part of a 1-for-4, two-RBI outing."I was really happy to hit a home run in front of all the Japanese fans for the first time in a while," Suzuki said.The 31-year-ol…READ FULL ARTICLE