Taiwan face an uphill battle to make it to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after yesterday losing their Pool C opener to Australia 3-0 at the Tokyo Dome.
Despite a stellar start on the mound, Taiwan were stifled by Australian pitching and suffered the sudden departure of captain Chen Chieh-hsien due to injury.
Home runs from Robbie Perkins and MLB’s No. 20 prospect Travis Bazzana got the 20-team international tournament started with a bang in front of a crowd of more than 40,000.
Photo: AFP
The overwhelming majority were supporting Taiwan, and Australia manager Dave Nilsson said it was “good we scored first to kind of limit the noise a little bit.”
Thousands of blue-clad Taiwan fans packed the stands, singing songs, blowing whistles and playing trumpets in support of their team.
“I appreciate that the fans were cheering us, and a lot of them flew here to Tokyo,” Taiwan manager Tseng Hao-jiu said. “The result was something we deserved and I am responsible for the loss.”
Photo: AP
The Taiwan fans almost lifted the roof off the stadium when US-born Stuart Fairchild, who joined the Cleveland Guardians late last year, hit a long shot that went just outside the foul pole in Taiwan’s first at-bat.
Australia took the wind out of their sails in the fifth inning when Perkins — the Australian Baseball League home run leader last year — hit the first homer of the tournament, scoring two runs off Taiwan reliever Chen Po-yu, who is in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Australia increased their lead when Bazzana, of the Cleveland Guardians, hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.
Photo: AP
Taiwan had a chance to take the lead with two runners on base in the ninth inning, but Australia relief pitcher Jon Kennedy snuffed out the danger.
“Definitely would have preferred a nice, easy inning instead of having to go down to the wire,” Nilsson said. “But he kept his calm, and that’s why we kept him in there.”
Adding injury to insult, captain Chen Chieh-hsien was forced to exit the game in the sixth inning after he was hit by a pitch on his left hand. Chen Chieh-hsien, who started in right field and batted third, was seen icing his fingers in the dugout shortly after.
Photo: Reuters
The team physician said he sustained a distal fracture in his left index finger. The finger has been immobilized in a cast, and medical staff are accompanying him to hospital for further evaluation. The team are to provide further updates as they become available.
The loss leaves Taiwan in a precarious position heading into today’s matchup against defending champions Japan, with only the top two teams advancing from the group round.
The game began as a pitching duel complicated by an inconsistent strike zone. The home plate umpire frequently called strikes on pitches two balls outside the zone while occasionally ruling pitches directly over the plate as balls, often in favor of the Australian side.
Photo: AP
Among those visibly affected was Fairchild, making his debut for Taiwan. He struck out in his first three at-bats before finally reaching base on a walk in the eighth.
In total, Taiwanese batters struck out nine times — including six in the first three innings against Australian starter Alex Wells — and hit only three scattered singles throughout the contest.
“It’s on me that our players could not deliver as they wanted to,” Tseng told ELTA Sports in a post-game interview. “I won’t call it a failure, but we must put this behind us immediately and prepare for tomorrow.”
The result overshadowed a dominant performance by Hsu Jo-hsi, who threw four scoreless innings. His fastball touched 95mph (152kph), while his signature split-changeup was lethal, inducing six swings-and-misses.
With powerhouse Japan favored to sweep the group, Taiwan now have almost no margin for error. Under strict WBC pitch count rules, the team must navigate their remaining three games perfectly to stay alive.
Veteran commentator Tseng Wen-cheng suggested during the ELTA Sports broadcast that while Taiwan need wins, they should be wary of “overinvesting” in today’s clash against Japan.
“While the original plan might have been to concede the Japan game to save arms, overextending now could jeopardize our must-win games against the Czech Republic and South Korea,” Tseng Wen-cheng said.
“We should stick to our CPBL-based pitchers on Friday and play with the mindset of simply enjoying the challenge,” he said.
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