Shohei Ohtani doubled on the first pitch of the game, then hit a go-ahead grand slam and an RBI single in a 10-run second inning to lead defending champion Japan over Taiwan 13-0 Friday night in its World Baseball Classic opener.
A triple shy of a cycle at the Tokyo Dome, Ohtani was denied on a leaping catch by first baseman Nien-Ting Wu in the fourth.
The game was called after seven innings under a tournament mercy rule. Yu Chang had the only hit for
Taiwan (0-2), a leadoff single in the sixth off Koki Kitayama.
With Japan the visiting team, Ohtani homered to right on a low, outside curveball from loser Hao-Chun Cheng, a 102.4 mph drive that traveled 368 feet. The half-inning lasted 28 minutes.
Kazuma Okamoto hit an RBI single in a three-run third off Tzu-Chen Sha.
Winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last season’s World Series MVP, walked three in 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Shoma Fujihira relieved with the bases loaded and struck out An-Ko Lin.
Australia (2-0) defeated the Czech Republic (0-2) in Tokyo behind a go-ahead, three-run, third-inning homer from Curtis Mead of the Chicago White Sox off loser Tomas Ondra to remain unbeaten in Pool C.
Australia, which lost to Cuba in a 2023 quarterfinal, took a 3-1 lead when Mead homered after the Czechs failed to convert a potential double play. Alex Hall added a solo homer off Ryan Johnson in a two-run ninth.
Vojtech Mensik hit a second-inning sacrifice fly for the Czechs.
Josh Hendrickson allowed one run and two hits over three innings.
Yoán Moncada and Yoelquis Guibert homered off Logan Allen at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Cuba won its WBC opener for the first time since 2013.
Cuba, which lost the 2006 final to Japan and a 2023 semifinal to the U.S., is missing many top Cuban-born players, including Aroldis Chapman, Randy Arozarena and Luis Robert Jr.
Guibert went deep on a high 2-0 fastball in the second and Moncada one inning later pulled a 3-1 sweeper at the bottom of the strike zone for his first home run off a left-hander since Sept. 28, 2023, off Arizona’s Kyle Nelson.
Panama's Johan Camargo had an RBI single in the seventh against Emmanuel Chapman and, with runners at the corners, Darien Núñez retired Christian Bethancourt on an inning-ending groundout.
Allen, a Florida native whose mother was born in Panama, allowed three runs and five hits in three innings for the win. Loser Livan Moinelo gave up two hits in 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
Cuba did not have a baserunner after the fifth. Raidel Martinez got three straight outs for the sav.
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