World No. 2 Chinese Taipei won the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS. Chinese Taipei shut out World No. 1 Japan, 4-0, in a Tokyo Dome packed by 41,827 fans, making 6,000 travelling fans delirious.
Shosei Togo delivered the first pitch at 19:03.
Chinese Taipei captain Chieh-Hsien Chen got the game's first hit, turning the first pitch he saw into a two-out double. Togo struck out An-Ko Lin with a wicked split-finger to end the at-bat.
Chinese Taipei got in scoring position with two outs in the top of the third. Li Lin singled, bringing Chen-Wei Chen to third. Togo got Chie-Hsien Chen to ground into a force-out.
Sosuke Genda led off the bottom half of the inning with a single. He reached second when Chinese Taipei starter Yu-Min Lin allowed his first walk. Kaito Kozono drove the second pitch he saw to deep centre field, but Chieh-Hsien Chen ran down the fly.
Chinese Taipei second baseman Tung-Hua Yueh ended the fourth Japanese at bat with a superb diving catch on Shogo Maki's sharp grounder.
Chinese Taipei took the lead in the top of the fifth. Catcher Chia-Cheng Lin looked at a ball and drove a 93 mph (150 kilometres) fastball in the right field bleachers for a solo home run.
Chen-Wei Chen reached on a one-out single. Togo walked Li Lin and worked the count full against Chieh-Hsien Cheng. After a foul ball, the UniPresident Lions star drove a fastball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer.
Yi Chang took the mound for Chinese Taipei in the bottom of the fifth. He allowed a pair of singles and then retired Kaito Kozono on a grounder to first base to end the inning.
Chihiro Sumida took over for Togo in the top of the sixth.
Chien-Kai Pan left the game injured in the top of the seventh after trying to reach first base with a brave head-first slide. He would have added a run for Chinese Taipei. Yu-Hsien Chu took over at first.
Japan sent to the mounf Shoma Fujihira in the top of the eighth. Kun-Yu Chiang reached on a leadoff double. He advanced to third on a groundout but Fujihira got out of the at-bat on a strikeout and a groundout.
Veteran left-hander Kuan-Yu Chen pitched a perfect bottom of the eighth for Chinese Taipei.
Taisei Ota took Samurai Japan mound in the top of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Chinese Taipei handed the ball to Kai-Wei Lin. Ryosuke Tatsumi singled on the right-hander's second pitch. Tatsumi was the first out at second on a Shota Morishita's chopper.
Ryoya Kurihara worked the count full, then lined the sixth pitch in Yu-Hsien Chu's glove. The first baseman doubled up Morishita, ending the game and the WBSC Premier12 2024.
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