Yomiuri Giants ace Koji Uehara pitched five shutout innings Wednesday as Sadaharu Oh's Team Japan defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-5 in an exhibition game for the World Baseball Classic.
Michihiro Ogasawara of Japan connects for a single during the second inning of an exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria.
Uehara allowed one hit, struck out six and walked none in a dominant outing and Ichiro Suzuki made an impressive homecoming against his major league teammates in front of a sparse crowd of 2,086 at Peoria Sports Complex ahead of Japan's second-round Pool 1 play getting started Sunday.
"Uehara was great tonight and hopefully this is a good indication of how he'll pitch in the second round," said Oh. "Tonight all of our guys were able to string their hits together and it made all the difference."