World No. 2 Chinese Taipei defeated No. 5 USA, 8-2, improving to 1-1 in the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS Super Round taking place at the Tokyo Dome, Japan. USA are now 0-2.
It was a one-run game through six innings before Chinese Taipei broke the score open with a five-run rally in the top of the seventh.
"The players executed our strategy," commented Chinese Taipei manager Hao-Jiu Tseng. "They trust each other and have been supporting each other through this tournament. I want to thank them and my coaching staff."
US manager Mike Scioscia regretted some missed opportunities. "You have to credit their pitchers and their defence. We couldn't get that big hit that could have helped us make other decisions about the pitching."
"[Our starter] Zac Grotz didn't have his best stuff today," Scioscia added. "But I think we pitched very well for most of the game. We ran into problems in the seventh. You have to give Chinese Taipei credit. They put the ball in play, and they got key hits. Sometimes, you have to look at the other team."
"Hitting is hard," commented US third baseman Matt Shaw. "Baseball is hard. Today we simply didn't put together good enough at-bats. Losing two games in a row hurts. We are here to represent a country."
Scioscia added: "We will focus on tomorrow's first pitch. The players need to focus on winning that first pitch. It's the best approach. You're going to have tough games and turn the page after them, even if the page sometimes is heavy."
Chinese Taipei first-baseman Chieh-Kai Pan spoke about the home run he hit in the top of the fifth: "I'm thankful for getting this opportunity. I'm thankful to my teammates, our pitching stuff and all the trust I get. It was great getting the home run in front of our fans."
USA starter Zac Grotz threw the first pitch at 12:04 (local time). Right fielder Li Lin got to him with a one-out single. Centre fielder Chieh-Hsien Chen followed with a single along the right-field foul line, bringing him to third. Grotz got out of the jam getting clean-up hitter Kungkuan Giljegiljaw to ground into a double play.
Left-hander Po-Ching Chen started for Chinese Taipei. He allowed back-to-back walks to third baseman Matt Shaw and shortstop Carson Willians with one out, giving USA their first runners. He got out of the first inning by striking out Colby Thomas.
USA made the first bullpen call with two outs and runners at second and first in the top of the third. Sam Benschoter took over for Gotz, who allowed five hits and one walk over 2.2 innings. The right-hander allowed a walk to load the bases. Shortstop Kun-Yu Chang crushed the fifth pitch to left field, but the ball was barely foul. He then struck out, swinging at a breaking ball away.
Kuo-Hao Kiang took the mound for Chinese Taipei in the bottom of the third. Chandler Simpson led off with an infield single, the first USA hit of the day. He reached second on a throwing error. Huang worked two quick outs, then walked the bases loaded. He got designated hitter Tim Elko looking at his splitter to end the inning.
Chinese Taipei took the lead in the top of the fourth. Catcher Chia-Cheng Lin reached on a one-out double and scored on third baseman Cheng-Yu Chang's RBI double.
Leadoff hitter Chen-Wei Chen followed with a triple off the right-field wall to make it a 2-0 game.
Termarr Johnson led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Catcher Willy Maciver followed with a double to left field that brought Johnson to third and forced Chinese Taipei to call Chih-Hsuan Wang from the bullpen. Johnson scored the first USA run on Juston Crawford's sacrifice fly. Maciver became the second out at third, trying to advance on a grounder to shortstop.
Antonio Menendez took the mound for USA in the top of the fifth. He got the first out on strikes. On the next pitch, first baseman Chieh-Kai Pan homered to right-centre, extending Chinese Taipei lead to 3-1.
Colby Thomas brought USA within one run when he homered off Hsin Yen Chuang in the bottom half of the frame.
Austin Vernon took the mound for USA in the top of the sixth.
Chinese Taipei handed the ball to right-hander Yi Chang in the bottom half of the inning.
Chinese Taipei loaded the bases in the top of the seventh against Spencer Patton, the fifth US pitcher of the day. Shortstop Kun-Yu Chang drove the fourth pitch he saw into the gap in right-centre for a three-RBI triple and scored on Tung-Hua Yueh's single.
Patton left after allowing a single to Chia-Cheng Lin. USA handed the ball to right-hander Eric Adler. Chinese Taipei loaded the bases again with one out and scored their eighth run when USA failed to complete the double play on a grounder to shortstop.
After batting in the game's second run, Chen-Wei Chen saved one with an extraordinary catch in centre field.
Dan Altavilla took care of the top of the eighth and Chinese Taipei handed the ball to Kuan-Yu Chen for the bottom half of the inning.
Anthony Gose pitched the ninth for USA. In the bottom half of the frame Chinese Taipei handed the ball to Chun-Wei Wu.
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| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 0 |
| 2 |  |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 1 |
| 3 |  |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 1 |
| 4 |  |
| 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 2 |
| 5 |  |
| 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 2 |
| 6 |  |
| 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 3 |
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 2 |  |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 1 |
| 3 |  |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 2 |
| 4 |  |
| 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 4 |
| 5 |  |
| 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 4 |
| 6 |  |
| 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 4 |
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 3 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 0.5 |
| 4 | |
| 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 1.5 |
