BOX SCORE & PLAYS | CUMULATIVE STATS
TOKYO – Chinese Taipei scored five runs in the seventh inning en route to an 8-2 victory over Team USA in the Super Round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 presented by RAXUS on Friday afternoon at the Tokyo Dome.
The loss drops Team USA to 0-2 in the Super Round.
Despite no runs being scored in the first three innings, the opening frames were littered with scoring opportunities for both teams. Chinese Taipei (5-2, 1-1) had U.S. starter Zac Grotz on the ropes for the duration of his 2.2 inning performance, starting in the first when two singles put runners on the corners with one out. But as he would do in the next inning as well, Grotz locked in and escaped the jam, inducing a 6-4-3 double play.
The bottom of the first saw Team USA’s first of many good chances to get on the scoreboard. Matt Shaw and Luke Ritter both drew walks to put two on with two out for Colby Thomas, but Taipei starter Po-Ching Chen struck out the U.S. left fielder to keep the game scoreless. Chinese Taipei then struck for two consecutive singles to open the second inning, but again, Grotz wiggled out of trouble with a strikeout and two groundouts.
After Team USA stranded Tim Elko following his leadoff walk in the second, Taipei put together another scoring opportunity in the third – its best of the game to that point. Grotz retired the first two batters on just three pitches but then hit Chieh-Hsien Chen and surrendered a single to Kungkuan Giljegiljaw as U.S. manager Mike Scioscia called for Sam Benschoter out of the bullpen. Despite issuing a walk to the first batter he faced to load the bases, Benschoter won a seven-pitch battle with Kun-Yu Chiang and struck him out on a breaking ball to keep the scoreless tie intact.
With a jolt of energy after escaping its third-straight jam, Team USA put together another rally in the third. Chandler Simpson led off with a bunt single and Ritter and Thomas each walked to fill the bags for Elko, but the designated hitter went down looking.
After knocking on the door in the first third of the game, Taipei was able to break it down and open the scoring on three consecutive extra-base hits off Benschoter in the fourth. Chia-Cheng Lin and Cheng-Yu Chang both doubled to score the first run and Chen-Wei Chen followed with a triple to make it 2-0 in favor of Chinese Taipei. But Team USA would respond almost immediately as Termarr Johnson singled, Willie MacIver doubled, and Justin Crawford hit a sac fly to cut the U.S. deficit to 2-1 after four.
The teams then exchanged solo homers in the fifth. Chieh-Kai Pan got a hold of the first pitch he saw from Antonio Menendez and hit it over the wall in right center to make it 3-1, but Thomas immediately responded with his second homer in as many days, a solo shot over the left field wall to bring his team back within one.
Austin Vernon and Yi Chang exchanged zeroes in the sixth before the pivotal seventh inning where Taipei plated five runs to put the game out of reach. After four outings of a scoreless inning each, Spencer Patton was unable to get a batter out in the seventh. The veteran reliever allowed two singles and a walk before Kun-Yu Chiang blew the game open with a bases-clearing triple to right center. Chiang scored on the next pitch from Patton as Tung-Hua Yueh served an RBI knock into right, and an RBI fielder’s choice by Li Lin later in the frame capped off the five-run inning and put Taipei in front by six.
Team USA got baserunners in the final three innings, including two in both the seventh and ninth frames, but was unable to mount a comeback. Chun-Wei Wu finished off the win for Taipei with a strikeout to make the 8-2 score final.
Overall, Chinese Taipei accumulated 14 hits as a team, including three players with two-hit games. Chieh-Kai Pan was a key hitter in the five-hole, reaching base in all five plate appearances including a home run and three walks. For the U.S., Simpson stayed hot with a hit in his seventh straight contest. Thomas homered, walked, and was hit by a pitch, reaching base in three of his four trips to the plate. He joins Shaw and Ryan Ward with multiple home runs at the Premier12; the U.S. and Venezuela are the only two teams in the Super Round with three players owning multiple homers.
On the mound, Grotz danced around trouble in his 2.2 innings, allowing five hits but no runs. Benschoter (1-2) suffered the loss after surrendering two runs in 1.1 innings of relief. For Taipei, starter Po-Ching Chen walked a trio of U.S. batters in two hitless innings. Kuo-Kao Chiang (1-0) was credited with the win.
The United States returns to Premier12 play on Saturday in its Super Round finale against Venezuela. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. local/10:00 p.m. ET (Nov. 22), and all the action can be seen live on DAZN.
