Japan overcame a shaky start by Daisuke Matsuzaka with quality at-bats en route to an 11-2 victory over Australia in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game Wednesday at Kyocera Dome in Osaka.
The Boston Red Sox right-hander gave up two runs and five hits before being pulled with two outs in the second inning, but his teammates came right back to tie the game at two in the third, and scored five runs an inning later.
Two-time Central League batting champion Norichika Aoki hit a tiebreaking, two-run triple, followed by consecutive hits from Hiroyuki Nakajima, Ichiro Suzuki and Atsunori Inaba in the five-run fourth. Suzuki had two infield singles in five at-bats.