2019 WBSC Premier12: Taiwan 5 – Australia 1
On November 16, Team Taiwan defeated Australia 5-1 in the last game of the Super Round and finished fifth in the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament. [Box Score]
Despite both Taiwan and the USA finished the Super Round with a 2-3 record, as per the WBSC tiebreaker rule, Team USA will move on to the Bronze medal game thanks to their 3-2 victory over Taiwan on November 15.
Nail-Biting Game Until Bottom of 8th
In the bottom of the third, Team Taiwan strung along with some offence and got an early 1-0 lead over Australia. Wang Sheng-Wei was hit in the elbow and reached third base on a single. He then scored the first run on an RBI single by Wang Wei-Chen.
After the second inning, Australia went to their bullpen and sent Steven Kent to the mound. The former Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A left-hander went on and pitched four scoreless innings and kept Australia in the race.
Team Taiwan’s starting pitcher Hu Chih-Wei was able to shut down the Australian lineup. Hu pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and struck out six. After five innings of work, he was pulled from the game with only 82 pitches.
Australia fought back and tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ Single-A right-hander Lin Kai-Wei gave up a solo home run to Logan Wade.
Lin Che-Hsuan Belts 3-Run Bomb
The game remained as 1-1 into the bottom of the eighth. Yueh Tung-Hua drew a one-out walk and forced Team Australia to send out their closer Ryan Searle. However, it did not stop the bleeding as Searle gave up the go-ahead run with two singles and then a three-run home run to Lin Che-Hsuan to make it a 5-1 game.
Team Taiwan went to their closer Chen Hung-Wen the next inning and slammed the door with two strikeouts to secured the victory. With Taiwan finished fifth in the Premier12 tournament, the team can receive roughly $360,000 USD in prize money.
I notice you re-tweeted the news that the Marlins just designated Wei-yin Chen for assignment. There are a whole lot of places he could end up in 2020. Given his age and 2020 performance, he will probably receive only minor league offers from MLB teams. However, the Chunichi Dragons might well be willing to offer him $500,000 to $700,000 for a return to NPB, and the KBO and CPBL are reasonable possibilities also.
Would be nice to see Chen returns and pitch in the CPBL. But I don’t think he will though. He might go the same route as Chien-Ming Wang. Taking a minor deal or play in the Atlantic League and grind a bit. Not to mention, his kids are studying in the USA too.
NPB is also a possibility too. He speaks decent Japanese and he knows how to pitch in Japan. Easy transition. However, Chen is no longer an young guy too, could potentially be a risky signing.
The Marlins reportedly still owe Chen $22 million, so he can afford to play anywhere he would most enjoy pitching and not worry about what the new team would pay him.
Exactly that. I’m sad to see Chen struggled since moving to the Marlins but I find it hard to feel bad for a multi millionaire.
I’m sure he can find a place to continue to pitch. I heard the Chunichi Dragons are starting to investigate the likelihood to sign Chen.
But I think for an athlete, Chen will probably want to get at least 1 more season in the major, you know, just trying to proved the Marlins wrong.