Japan's World Baseball Classic title defense got off to a rousing start at the Tokyo Dome, with four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani crushing a second-inning grand slam to open the scoring in a blowout 13-0 win over Chinese Taipei.
Ohtani, the reigning WBC MVP, took Hao-Chun Cheng deep with the bases loaded and one out, starting a 10-run Japan inning. Ohtani added an RBI single later in the frame and had already doubled in the first inning.
Japan scored more three runs in the third inning to push their lead to 13-0 en route to a mercy-rule victory (10 runs through seven innings) over Chinese Taipei which, fell to 0-2 in the tournament after losing to Australia in the opener.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto started for Japan, tossing 2⅔ hitless innings.
Shohei Ohtani went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and five RBIs in Japan's World Baseball Classic opener against Chinese Taipei.
