TOKYO – It took eight pitchers but only two runs for Venezuela to win their Super Round opener at the Tokyo Dome Thursday afternoon.
With one starter unavailable due to a visa issue, Venezuela manager Omar Lopez managed what could go down as the ultimate bullpen game in international baseball history, flipping hurlers the way jockeys flip off muddy goggles to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and cling to a slim lead until the end.
It was a tactic that Lopez had said was on the table a day earlier, telling media at a news conference at the Tokyo Dome that he had told his staff to be ready, one and all, and he followed through, using seven different relievers, four of whom only pitched 1/3 of an inning each, to silence Chinese Taipei’s bats in a 2-0 win.
Chinese Taipei managed to outhit Venezuela, knocking six singles and a double, but only got one runner past third base.
“I think the Venezuelan pitchers pitched very well. That’s why we didn’t have the runs,” said Chinese Taipei manager Hao-jiu Tseng. “However, the Taiwanese team has also worked a lot, both the pitchers and the batters. We have tried to make a good offensive, but in any case, we haven’t done well in the end. We have had some challenges, but we will try to recover from them in the next game.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, when Venezuela catcher Carlos Perez launched a two-run home run over the left field wall, scoring right fielder Ramon Flores to make it 2-0 Venezuela.
After starter Nivaldo Rodriguez held Chinese Taipei scoreless through four, Lopez called upon relief pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez to start the top of the fifth inning, starting a bullpen parade. Nivaldo Rodriguez threw four innings, allowing three hits, no earned runs, no walks and five strikeouts while throwing 37-of-52 pitches for strikes.
“Our starter was supposed to be Mario Sanchez, but like I said yesterday, there were problems, that’s why he’s not here. So it was a bullpen game,” Lopez said to reporters following the game. “
Ricardo Rodriguez did not last long in the top of the fifth. After striking out Chinese Taipei first baseman Yu-Hsien Chu for the first batter of the inning, he gave up a single to shortstop Kun-Yu Chang through the right side of the infield and walked catcher Chia-Cheng Lin.
Lopez did not hesitate to replace Ricardo Rodriguez with Liarvis Breto after Ricardo Rodriguez threw just ⅓ of an inning, allowing one hit, one walk, and one strikeout.
Breto only faced two batters during the top of the fifth, giving up a single to Chinese Taipei second baseman Tung-Hua Yueh before striking out left fielder Chen-Wei Chen looking for the second out of the inning.
“I think that if it was a [Major League Baseball game], we would not have been able to do this [because pitchers must face a minimum of three batters], but I think that we were able to get him to be the key for today’s game and all the pitchers worked so hard to make it happen,” Lopez said. Because the three batter minimum wasn’t in effect, it “gives us flexibility, so that’s why we use that as advantage. The Taiwanese players are generally weak against left-handed players. So I tried to aim for that and the left-handed players were able to do it.”
Lopez then took Breto out of the game and called on relief pitcher Pedro Garcia, his third pitcher of the frame, who got Chinese Taipei’s Li Lin to fly out to Ramon Flores in right center field for the final out of the top of the fifth inning to end the bases-loaded jam and maintain a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Chinese Taipei manager Hao-Jiu Tseng took out starting pitcher Tzu-Peng Huang with two outs after he gave up a two-out single into center field to Venezuela’s Diego Castillo and called on Chih-Hsuan Wang.
Huang threw 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, no walks, and three strikeouts while tossing 44 of his 56 pitches for strikes.
But it did nothing to change Chinese Taipei’s situation. They went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and never got a runner past first base after the loaded the bases in the fifth.
Oddanier Mosqueda came out for the eighth and threw 1 1/3 innings, joining Alvarez as ironmen of the bullpen for the evening.
He was denied the chance to close out the game with a six-out save, but retired all five batters he faced, striking out two, before yielding to Enderson Franco, who retired Kun-Yu Chiang waving at an off-speed pitch to end the game.
Chinese Taipei will play on November 22 against the World No. 5 United States at 12 p.m. JST. That game will start November 21 at 10 p.m. EST at the Tokyo Dome.
Venezuela will play on November 22 against No. 1 Japan at 7 p.m. JST and at 5 a.m. EST.
All of the remaining 2024 Premier12 games are streamed on https://gametime.sport/ and DAZN.
NOTEBOOK – Venezuela starting pitcher Mario Sanchez will join the team in Tokyo on Friday, manager Omar Lopez said shortly before the start of their Super Round opener against Chinese Taipei.
Sanchez earned the win in Venezuela’s 5-3 win on November 11 against the United States in Group A play in Tepic, mexico, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out 10 in six innings of work.
His travel to Japan was held up due to visa issues. Lopez told the media that Sanchez had to go back to Venezuela to straighten out his visa situation before coming to Japan. Venezuelans visiting Japan need to obtain a visa from a Japanese embassy to enter the country.
Lopez said that Sanchez would pitch either Saturday against the United States, the final game of the Super Round’s three-game round robin, or in a medal round game on Sunday.
Sanchez has pitched in Asia the last two seasons, appearing with the Kia Tigers of South Korea’s KBO and the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. He rose as high as Triple-A in the Washington Nationals’ and Minnesota Twins’ farm system.
THE LAST TIME – The last time that Venezuela played Chinese Taipei at the Premier12 was in Group B play on Nov. 6, 2019, where they lost 3-0 at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan. Chinese Taipei last played in the Super Round of the Premier12 event on Nov. 16, 2019, when they beat Australia 5-1 at the Tokyo Dome.
World Baseball Network’s Leif Skodnick contributed reporting and writing to this story.
Photo: Venezuela’s Carlos Perez celebrates his two-run homer in the fourth inning of the opening game of the 2024 WBSC Premier12 Super Round against Chinese Taipei. The two runs were all Venezuela would need, as they hung on to beat Chinese Taipei 2-0. (Photo Courtesy WBSC)
