Chinese Taipei win game plagued by rain against Venezuela

Chinese Taipei defeated Venezuela, 3-0, in the last WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024 Opening Round game. The day was affected by inclement weather. The game started with a 20-minute delay and was stopped for half an hour in the fifth inning.

José Guzman pitched the first inning for Venezuela, then left for Leonardo Lugo, who went to innings. Juan Romero took the mound in the top of the fourth. The three pitchers faced only 12 batters and combined four strikeouts.

Venezuela recorded three hits against Chinese Taipei right-hander Yu Ting Lu through the fourth.

They had runners at the corners with two outs in the first after Cesar Idrogo singled. Freddy Trejo singled, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch with two outs in the second. They failed to score in both cases.

A better scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth. Alexander Pena singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He reached third with one out, but neither Moises Nunez nor Moises Paiva could push him home.

Angel Villegas walked Yu-Ching Tseng with one out in the fifth and gave Chinese Taipei their first runner of the game. Bo-Rui Huang bunted him to second. With two outs, Tseng stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

The game was delayed by rain at the end of the at bat for about 30 minutes.

As the game resumed, Pin-Hong Chen took the mound for Chinese Taipei but left after a walk. Yu-Chieh Wang also struggled with control, but got out of the inning on strikes. Venezuela stranded three runners.

Venezuela used two more pitchers, Yoscar Castillo in the sixth and Oswald Mori in the seventh. Chinese Taipei added two runs on Mori with back-to-back doubles by Bo-Rui Huang and Hsin Chiu, extending the lead to 3-0.

Rain and wind affected the bottom of the seventh. Freddy Trejo reached on a towering pop to third base, which proved impossible for Yu-Ching Tseng to track down. Yu-Chieh Wang allowed another infield single but got out of the jam on a pair of flyouts and earned the save.

The loss won't impact Venezuela's tournament. They finished second in Group B and will head to the Super Round with a 1-1 record. Chinese Taipei will start the Placement Round with a 1-1 record.