BASEBALL/Taiwan edges Dominican Republic in second straight Premier12 group win

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Team Taiwan remained undefeated after the home squad edged past Dominican Republic in a nail-biting 2-1 victory at the Taipei Dome Thursday, improving its record to 2-0 in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play.

In a pitchers' duel between two teammates from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Rakuten Monkeys, Taiwanese starter Huang Tzu-peng (黃子鵬) outperformed his Dominican Republic counterpart Pedro Fernandez.

Huang pitched six scoreless innings with four strikeouts, giving up no hits and a walk.

Fernandez had an equally impressive six-inning outing, with the exception of a solo homerun he gave up to Team Taiwan's shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) at the top of the third inning.

Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, added another run in the top of the eighth inning due to several defensive errors by the Dominican Republic and a sacrifice fly by Lin Li (林立), increasing the lead to 2-0.

Dominican Republican's first hit came in the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to the right field by Andretty Cordero.

The Dominican Republican team rallied late on, scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth inning from Taiwan closer Wu Chun-wei (吳俊偉) on a groundball, before Wu regained his poise, striking out Frank Rodriguez, stranding the tying run on third.

At the post-game presser, Team Taiwan manager Tseng Hao-ju (曾豪駒) credited all his players for not succumbing to pressure in an intense matchup.

In particularly, he thanked Huang for delivering a "perfect-outing" and the joint efforts of four relievers to seal the victory.

Huang, who was taken off the mound due to muscle cramp in the seventh inning, said at the press event that he had long prepared for the game against the Dominican Republic.

He thanked his manager for trusting him and his teammates for their offensive and defensive efforts.

Meanwhile, Dominican Republic manager César Martin praised the excellent performances of both teams' starters, in particularly Huang.

Fernandez also had a great outing, though his only lost-controlled pitch was nailed by Chiang into a homerun, Martin said.

In another Group B action Thursday, South Korea defeated Cuba 8-4 at Taipei's Tianmu Stadium.

Team Taiwan has a day-off Friday before facing defending champions Japan on Saturday at the Taipei Dome.

The 2024 WBSC Premier12 is the 3rd edition of the baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world. It is organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for the two sports.

The top two teams from group A and B, each with six teams, advance to the Super Round to be held in Japan.

The teams that finish first and second in the Super Round play in the gold medal match, while the teams placed third and fourth play for bronze.

Taiwan finished ninth in 2015 before advancing to the Super Round in 2019 and finishing fifth.