BASEBALL/Taiwan suffers 2-0 loss to Venezuela in Premier12 Super Round opener

Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) Taiwan's national baseball team suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday.

Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, had a combined 7 hits during Thursday noon's game, one more than Venezuela's 6.

However, catcher Carlos Perez's timely two-run homer to deep left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured the all-important victory for Venezuela.

Taiwan's best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuelan reliever Liarvis Breto first struck out Chen Chen-wei (陳晨威), before Breto's successor Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin Li (林立).

At a post-game news conference, Taiwan's manager Tseng Hao-ju (曾豪駒) said it was a pity that his team was unable to score despite having more hits than Venezuela.

He also praised all the team's relievers for keeping the game close and not giving up any runs from the fourth inning onward.

The squad will make some adjustments following the game and hopefully can do better in the next game, Tseng said. "I have faith in my players. "

A total of 13 of Taiwan's batters were struck out by eight Venezuelan pitchers on Thursday, a sharp contrast to only five Venezuelan batters struck out by five Taiwanese pitchers.

Thursday's game also saw a pitchers' duel between two players from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

Taiwan's starter Huang Tzu-peng (黃子鵬) of CPBL's Rakuten Monkeys and Venezuelan Nivaldo Rodriguez of the Fubon Guardians had an equally impressive game, both throwing three scoreless innings before Huang gave up a home run in the fourth.

Huang gave up two earned runs on five hits, striking out three batters in 4.2 innings of pitching.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, cruised through four scoreless innings, striking out five while giving up only three hits.

Taiwan will face Team USA on Friday at noon also at the Tokyo Dome.

Taiwan and Venezuela are two of the four teams that advanced to the Super Round.

Taiwan finished the opening round in Group B held in Taipei with a 4-1 record but finished in second place to advance to the Super Round. They won their four games against South Korea (6-3), Dominican Republic (2-1), Australia (11-3) and Cuba (2-0), while losing to Japan (1-3).

Venezuela won Group A, which was played in Guadalajara and Tepic, Mexico, with a 4-1 record, winning against Mexico (8-4), USA (5-3), Puerto Rico (5-2) and the Netherlands (11-0), while only losing to Panama (2-4).

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.

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.

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