Both countries were looking for their second wins of the event and the early exchanges were cagey, with neither team scoring in their opening two innings.

Proceedings came to life in the third though at the Tainan Municipal Stadium as the score suddenly rocketed to 3-3.

Mexico, ranked sixth going into the tournament, managed to sneak ahead in the fifth, taking the score to 6-5, but Japan had one more chance to get ahead.

However, they were unable to do so, handing their opponents victory.

Antonis Macias Baez, Juan Pablo Tirado Tirado and Ichiro Cano Hernandez all score two runs for Mexico.

Kohei Okada, Diasuke Mori, Mitsuru Otsuka, Kota Kato and Shuya Yamada got the runs for Japan.

Today’s other Group A matches saw host nation Chinese Taipei in dominant form as they routed South Africa 18-0 to claim their second win of the tournament and the Czech Republic beat Brazil 8-2.

Following a defeat on the opening day, South Korea got their first victory in Group B.

They recovered from losing 1-0 to Panama yesterday by comfortably seeing off Australia 8-0, with the Korean’s pitching proving too good for their opponents.

Their eight runs came from 12 hits and three defensive errors, with centre fielder Jang Seongmu bringing home three runs, hitting a pair of doubles in the process.

The group’s other matches saw Panama thrash Germany 12-1 and defending champions the United States record a 10-0 victory over Nicaragua.

The results from this competition will count towards the overall WBSC world rankings, with the final being played on August 6.