BASEBALL/Taiwan suffers 1st Premier12 loss to defending champion Japan

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Taiwan suffered its first defeat of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, losing to defending champion Japan 3-1 at the Taipei Dome Saturday.

Japan's victory put Taiwan's score at two wins and one loss in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play.

In the top of the first inning, a sacrifice fly from Japanese batter Shota Morishita allowed Masayuki Kuwahara to score a run on Taiwan's starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清).

Taiwan's attempt to catch up in the bottom of the first ended to no avail and an uneventful second inning saw the score remain at 1-0 in favor of Japan.

Chen continued his time on the mound in the top of the third and gave up another run when Shogo Sakakura rounded home.

After Taiwan failed to deliver a run in the bottom of the same inning, the top of the fourth saw Japanese batter Sosuke Genda hitting a homer to bring the score to 3-0.

Taiwan's attempts at catching up to Japan then saw the home team heavily shake its pitching lineup.

Chen was relieved by Huang En-sih (黃恩賜) at the top of the fourth, who lasted until the top of the fifth before being replaced by Wang Chih-hsuan (王志煊).

In the top of the sixth, Taiwan's fourth pitcher Chiang Kuo-hao (江國豪) was able to keep Japan's batters at bay until the middle of the top of the eighth when team switched him out for Chuang Hsin-yen (莊昕諺).

Before Chuang took the mound, however, Taiwan was finally able to get the score up to 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Dai Pei-fong (戴培峰) homered deep into the right field.

As per Taiwan's strategy for the Saturday game, Chen Kuan-wei (陳冠偉) replaced Chuang as Taiwan's sixth and last pitcher against Japan.

With Taiwan deploying six pitchers and Japan four, the game concluded with Japan's victory 3-1.

At the post-game presser, Team Taiwan manager Tseng Hao-ju (曾豪駒) took responsibility for Taiwan's first loss, but applauded his team for performing relatively well under pressure against the competition's defending champion.

Chen Po-ching meanwhile thanked Tseng for giving him the opportunity to open a key game for Taiwan before praising the powerhouse that is Japan.

Taiwan's best finish at the Premier12 was fifth place at the second edition of the tournament in 2019.

In other Group B action Saturday, South Korea defeated the Dominican Republic 9-6 and Cuba beat Australia 4-3 at Taipei's Tianmu Stadium.

Taiwan will face Australia on Sunday at the Taipei Dome.

Group A consists of Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela.

The 2024 WBSC Premier12 is the 3rd edition of the baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world.

The top two teams from groups A and B advance to the Super Round to be held in Japan.