Chinese Taipei rides on 'Tiger' Huang’s dominating effort to defeat Dominican Republic

World No. 2 Chinese Taipei defeated No. 12 Dominican Republic, 2-1, on the WBSC Premier12 2024, presented by RAXUS Group B day two. The game resulted in a pitching duel, with Chinese Taipei earning the win behind six no-hit innings by starter Tzu-Peng “Tiger” Huang.

Both teams had a 1-0 record and aimed to continue their winning streak. The starting pitchers, Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic and Tzu-Peng Huang of Chinese Taipei, knew themselves well, being teammates on the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

In the first two innings, while Fernandez only gave up a short-hop single to Chieh-Hsien Chen, Huang also dominated and faced a minimum of six batters.

The first highlight of the game came during the third inning when Kun-Yu Chiang drove the ball to the deep left-field bleachers for a solo home run to give Chinese Taipei a 1-0 lead.

“I didn’t play well yesterday, but I had a base hit in my first at-bat, and that made me feel good and relieved,” said Chiang after the game.

Besides giving up the long ball in the third, Fernandez kept Chinese Taipei batters off balance most of the time during his six-inning outing when he gave up four hits, struck out six, and walked one.

However, Huang had his career-best outing tonight. He no-hit the Dominican Republic for six innings, striking out four and walking only one. He was taken off the game at the beginning of the seventh due to a cramp.

“I did know [the no-hit] was on, but what I did was to concentrate on my communication with my catcher, Chia-Cheng Lyle Lin. It’s an international tournament, so the overall outcome is way more important than personal stats,” said Huang after the game.

“He pitched very well. He made great pitches,” said Dominican Republic manager Cesar Martin. “I am proud of my team, too. During the later innings, while we were behind, we were still very aggressive on getting on base, and we were able to get on the scoring positions.”

Chinese Taipei added another run in the eighth inning to make it a 2-0 game before the Dominican Republic fought back in the bottom of the ninth by scoring one run off Chinese Taipei closer Chun-Yuan Wu.

“It’s a great, exciting, and tough game, too; they [the Dominican Republic] are a tough team to play against,” said Chinese Taipei manager Hao-Jiu Tseng. “Of course, I cannot go without mentioning how great Huang has pitched today and the bullpen that did a good job, too. The second run scored in the eighth inning also gave us confidence."

"I want to express my gratitude to our supporting team, especially the scouting team, and of course our fans too.”

Chinese Taipei will enjoy a day off after collecting two wins in as many games, while the Dominican Republic will play Australia on the third day of the Group B action.