USA – Taiwan 4-2
TPE 000 010 100 2 5 0 USA 000 012 01X 4 10 2
Box score
Recap on USA Baseball
Team USA followed Cuba, Korea and Japan into the semi-finals with a 4-2 win against Taiwan on Tuesday. The last day of the preliminary round on Wednesday will decide the matchups.
Both teams started with zeros on the board in the first four frames till Chinese Taipei scored first in the fifth, when Chih-Sheng Lin reached with a double, advanced to third on a sac bunt and scored on an error by first baseman Matt Brown. But the Americans came right back tying the game through a RBI double by Brian Barden in the bottom of the same period.
One inning later John Gall led off with a solo shot to put his team up in front. Dexter Fowler doubled in another run three batters later to make it 3-1. Fowler went three-for-three with a walk in the game and missed the cycle by a homerun.
Taiwan cut the deficit to a run in the top of the seventh on Lin’s solo homerun. But a RBI single in the eighth by Jason Donald brought in an insurance run to seal victory number four for Team USA.
Brandon Knight (W 1-0) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five. Michael Koplove and Kevin Jepsen (S 1) relieved him to shut down the opposing offense with eight consecutive outs to finish the match. Wen-Hsiung Hsu (L 0-1) was responsible for seven hits, three runs and four base on balls in five-plus innings to take the loss. He struck out six.