Baseball: Sasaki fans Japan teammate Murakami ahead of WBC camp

Two days before Japan’s national team WBC training camp opens, Samurai Japan’s biggest young stars, pitcher Roki Sasaki and slugger Munetaka Murakami, faced off in a spring training practice game Wednesday.

Sasaki, Japan’s youngest perfect-game pitcher, struck out Murakami, the youngest to win a Japanese batting Triple Crown, in a game between Sasaki’s Lotte Marines and Murakami’s Yakult Swallows.

The 21-year-old Sasaki allowed one hit in two scoreless innings with five swinging strikeouts. He struck out Murakami, 23, who hit 56 home runs last season, on a 160-kilometers (99.4-miles)-per-hour ...