FUKUOKA, Japan: Two-time defending champion Japan beat a surprisingly resilient Brazilian team 5-3 yesterday in its opening game of the World Baseball Classic.

Japan had to rally from a 3-2 deficit with three runs in the top of the eighth inning before a crowd of 28,181 at Fukuoka Dome.

Hirokazu Ibata came off the bench to tie the game with a single to right that scored Seiichi Uchikawa from second. Japan took a 4-3 lead when Ibata scored from third on a fielder’s choice and added an insurance run on Nobuhiro Matsuda’s single to center that scored Hisayoshi Chono.

Brazil looked set to pull off a major upset when it took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning on a double by Leonardo Reginatto that scored Paulo Orlando from second.

Earlier, Taiwan’s star pitcher Wang Chien-ming led the island to a 4-1 victory over Australia in Taichung city, central Taiwan. Wang, currently a free agent after an injury-plagued season with the Washington Nationals, threw six shutout innings in front of a cheering home crowd of 20,000.

Team captain Peng Cheng-min knocked in Taipei’s first run with a single in the first inning and added a solo home run. Kuo Hong-chih, another former Major Leaguer, pitched in relief for Taiwan and hurled a perfect inning.

Australia’s Stefan Welch crushed a solo home run to right field to get the country on the board, narrowing Taiwan’s lead to 4-1.

Taiwan was shut out in preliminaries in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics. Hopes are high that the island would prevail this year by enlisting some top baseball talents such as Wang and Kuo.

Taiwan have a 0-2 record against South Korea, 0-1 against Japan and 1-1 against China in the previous two tournaments, while Australia have a 1-5 record overall, never having played an Asian team before.

Two teams will emerge from the five-day Asian second round, starting in Tokyo next Friday, and will fight it out with the top sides from Pool C and D, held in Puerto Rico and Arizona, in the final series in San Francisco.

MLB roundup: Yankees’ Rivera pitches, Cano gets an offer

Recoveries and contracts continue to be the biggest news for the New York Yankees.

Closer Mariano Rivera pitched an inning of a simulated game Thursday morning as he continued his recovery from a torn ACL in his right knee.

Rivera had already thrown to batters last week, and 18-pitch session included fielding balls off the mound, one of the final obstacles in his recovery from the May surgery that ended his 2012 season.

Rivera, 43,needed to cover first on a bunt, field a bunt up the first-base line and cut off a bouncing ball between first base and the mound.

“That’s what I wanted to do, field some bunts, go after some balls in between first and the mound, and just plant and throw,” Rivera said. “It feels good, guys, it feels real good. It was perfect.” Meanwhile, general manager Brian Cashman confirmed that the team has made a “significant offer” to second baseman Robinson Cano.

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said last week that the Yankees have told agent Scott Boras, who represents Cano, that they’re willing to consider a long-term deal.

Cano, 30, can become a free agent after the 2013 season, and Boras typically prefers that his players hit the open market.

- Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks said his right wrist was fine after being examined by the team’s medical staff, but he’ll visit a wrist specialist to determine if more tests are needed.

Middlebrooks checked his swing in the first inning of Wednesday’s exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles, and appeared to injure the same wrist he fractured Aug. 10, when he was hit by a pitch, ending his rookie season.

He will be fitted for a protective batting glove. He said the initial exam didn’t reveal any structural damage and that the pain quickly subsided.

- Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus proved body art can be painful.

Andrus was removed from Thursday’s Cactus League game against the Cleveland Indians due to muscle soreness in his left arm attributed to a new tattoo.

Andrus used Wednesday’s day off to get a tattoo that fills most of his left arm from the shoulder to the elbow. The artwork is a tribute to his late father.

- Oakland A’s pitcher Brett Anderson was tabbed by manager Bob Melvin to start opening day on Thursday.

“Let’s go ahead and say Brett Anderson is our Opening Day starter,” Melvin told reporters.

Anderson, 25, is in his fifth season with the AL West champions. He’ll face the visiting Seattle Mariners at the Oakland Coliseum on April 1.

- The Cardinals aren’t ready to let shortstop Rafael Furcal return to the field.

Furcal, nursing bone chips in the right elbow where he suffered a torn ligament last Aug. 30, said he was ready to go in the field by March 1 but manager Mike Matheny was being a bit more cautious.

- Former major-league pitcher Mike Hampton, who won 148 games in 16 big-league seasons, is returning to baseball as a pitching coach in the Double-A Arkansas Travelers, in the Los Angeles Angels system.