BASEBALL/Taiwan enters Premier12 final against Japan despite Saturday loss

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Taiwan will challenge World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 defending champion Japan on Sunday, despite losing against them 9-6 on Saturday.

After the United States' win against Venezuela earlier on Saturday, three of the four countries in the Premier12 semis stood evenly at one win and two losses.

However, based on the Team Quality Balance (TQB) calculation -- which uses the formula runs scored/inning played at bat, minus runs allowed/innings played on defense -- Taiwan outperformed both the U.S. and Venezuela to lead the two at the WBSC Super Round.

As a result, Taiwan had secured a place in the final even before the loss on Saturday.

This marks the first time Taiwan has reached the finals of a world-class professional baseball tournament in the last 32 years.

Meanwhile, Japan continued its 2024 undefeated streak during the Saturday game.

Japan took the lead literally right off the bat at the bottom of the first inning with an opening homer by Itsuki Murabayashi on the second pitch of Taiwan starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清).

Murabayashi's home run appeared to stun Taiwan, as Japanese batters Toshiya Sato and Ryosuke Tatsumi went on to score consecutive runs on an RBI by Shota Morishita.

Chiang Kuo-hao (江國豪) later replaced Chen on the mound but allowed Morishita to score, extending Japan's lead to 4-0.

Taiwan then appeared to rally in the top of the third inning when Lin Li (林立) drove in their first run, narrowing the score to 4-1.

However, Taiwan was forced to play catch-up for much of the rest of the game.

When Taiwan appeared to narrow the gap, such as the top of the fifth inning when the score stood at 4-3, Japan would quickly regain momentum, with their batters scoring multiple runs to maintain a lead.

Although Taiwan's relentless efforts led them to score another run in the top of the final inning, it still lost to Japan 9-6.

Taiwan will face Japan for the third time at Premier12 on Sunday. Japan has won both of their previous encounters.

Prior to Saturday's game, Japan criticized Taiwan for replacing the team's original starter Lin Yu-min (林昱珉) with Chen after Team Taiwan found out that it had made it to the final due to the U.S. beating Venezuela.

Japan made an official complaint to the WBSC, saying that Taiwan's sudden move was unsportsmanlike.

It was settled after the WBSC issued Taiwan a fine. The sum of the fine was US$2,000, according to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.