TOKYO – For five innings, fans at the Tokyo Dome were treated to a pitcher’s duel at the 2024 WBSC Premier12 Championship Game between Chinese Taipei and Japan.
But a pair of home runs in the fifth inning from Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Cheng Lin and Chieh-Hsien Chen knocked Japan starter Shosei Togo out of the game, and Chinese Taipei’s pitchers silenced the powerful Japanese lineup, allowing just four hits and two walks on the way to a 4-0 win.
In their wildest dreams, Chinese Taipei fans, who traveled in numbers to Tokyo for the Premier12, didn’t see this upset as a possibility. This Premier12 is Chinese Taipei’s first major international championship in baseball, and snapped Samurai Japan’s win 27-game streak in international competition.
Shosei Togo, who pitched two scoreless innings following Shota Imanaga in the 2023 WBC Finals versus Team USA, got the start for Samurai Japan at his home stadium, battling Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Min Lin, was originally scheduled to pitch yesterday but was replaced just hours before the game following the USA’s victory over Venezuela.
Lin, who is the No. 7 prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization according to MLB Pipeline, used 93-plus mph heaters and sharp sliders from the left side to give Japan hitters a unique challenge, as hard-throwing southpaws are still a relative rarity in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Chinese Taipei and Japan each put two runners on in the third inning, but Togo got Chieh-Hsien Chen to ground out to short to escape the jam, and then in the bottom half, Chen got revenge by tracking down a Kaito Kozono line drive to the right-center gap to end the frame.
💥⚾ Chia-Cheng Lin, ladies and gents! #Premier12 || @Premier12 pic.twitter.com/s7nxCFztTn
— WBSC ⚾🥎 (@WBSC) November 24, 2024
The game was still in a scoreless deadlock when Chia-Cheng Lin led off the 5th with an opposite field home run. A one-out single from Chen-Wei Chen and a walk to Li Lin gave Chinese Taipei runners at first and second with one out, and then captain Chieh-Hsien Chen launched an inside fastball into the right field seats for a three-run shot, silencing the home fans.
“Togo is an excellent pitcher,” Chen said after the game with a gold medal around his neck. “But I didn’t want to lose to him.”
Former NPB pitcher Yi Chang relieved Lin in the bottom half, pitching two scoreless innings. Chihiro Sumida entered for Japan in the sixth and struck out the side, attempting to blunt the Taiwanese momentum as much as possible.
He ran into trouble in the seventh, allowing back-to-back singles followed by a double steal to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Then, An-Ko Lin cranked a deep fly into the right field stands that would’ve put Chinese Taipei up 7-0. Instead, it hooked foul, and he struck out a few pitches later.
With two outs, Chieh-Kai Pan hit a slow grounder to the shortstop and was initially called safe after a head-first dive into first base, plating a fifth run. But a long review overturned the call to keep the score 4-0.
Chang completed three scoreless innings, getting some payback, of sorts, against Japan for NPB teams giving up on him too quickly. Kuan-Yu Chen, another former NPB product, struck out two in a clean eighth inning.
Down to their final three outs, Japan’s fourth and final hit of the night came when Ryosuke Tatsumi singled to right to lead off the ninth. Clean-up hitter Shota Morishita hit a grounder to second, and Tastumi was forced out at second with the fielder’s choice.
On a 3-2 count, Ryoya Kurihara hit a screaming liner a foot off the turf that was snared by Chinese Taipei first baseman Yu-Hsien Chu, who turned and stepped on the bag to double off Morishita, ending the game and with it Japan’s winning streak.
“I take full responsibility,” manager Hirokazu Ibata said after the game. “I’m sorry to the players that I couldn’t get them this win.”
For Japan, it was heartbreak: a 27-game winning streak and undefeated tournament run snapped. For Chinese Taipei, it was jubilation: their first ever championship at a major international tournament and a remarkable upset over the world No. 1.
Shortstop Sosuke Genda added, “I’m going to keep doing my best so I can be selected for the next international tournament and get back at this regrettable loss.”
Photo: Chia-Cheng Lin of Chinese Taipei celebrates his three-run home run in the championship game of the 2024 WBSC Premier12 at the Tokyo Dome. (Photo Courtesy WBSC)
