Chinese Taipei rolls past Czechia for 1st win at '26 Classic

TOKYO – Tokyo Dome was packed and the noise was ear-splitting. The fans were cheering and stomping, with horns blaring and drums pounding. But this wasn’t Samurai Japan who was playing: This was the visiting Chinese Taipei, who defeated Czechia 14-0 in a seven-inning mercy rule victory on Saturday afternoon.

You could have forgiven the fans who flew in from Taiwan if they were subdued. The team had lost its first two World Baseball Classic games, failing to score a run in either contest. The game against Czechia – a roster consisting almost entirely of amateur players who have overcome expectations simply by being here – was essentially a relegation contest with the loser likely having to play in a Qualifier before the next tournament.

Instead, they responded as if Chinese Taipei was playing in the World Baseball Classic championship.

Chinese Taipei got started in the first inning scoring two runs with the ball barely leaving the ground. Two bunt singles – including one by Guardians Minor Leaguer Stuart Fairchild, a double steal with a throwing error, and an RBI single past the diving reach of shortstop Vojtech Menšík from former big leaguer Yu Chang put Chinese Taipei up 2-0 early.

It was all part of a plan to wake up the bats after two sluggish days at the plate.

“In the previous two games, our offense was kind of struggling,” manager Hao-Jiu Tseng said. “So before the game started, we thought we should go back to the fundamentals, and I asked all the players what the best approach to do was, and that's the result.”

“It’s not a bad feeling if the defending Premier12 world champion bunts with their No. 3 hitter, and want to score a run in the first inning because they’re afraid,” Chadim said with a laugh. “But only in the first inning.”

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But Chinese Taipei wouldn’t need to use small ball for long. The next inning, Fairchild came up with the bases loaded. The night before, he had hit a long drive down the third-base line that was called foul, which the outfielder still believes was fair.

There was no doubt today.

“Honestly after yesterday when I thought I hit the homer, I was thinking about it a lot,” Fairchild said. “And today, I just tried to flush it and realize it's a new day. Not dwell on the past and show up today to help the team win. That was my priority. It was to not think about myself but rather the team and do what I can today to help the team win.”

There wasn’t much time to move on, though: Chinese Taipei was in the night game last night and first pitch was at 12 p.m. local time in Tokyo.

“I felt a little tired to be honest, quick turnaround from the late game yesterday to an early one today. But I got as much sleep as I could and drank a bunch of coffee, so we were ready to go,” Fairchild joked.

From there, Chinese Taipei put the game away. Chang had three hits and four RBIs, Chen-Wei Chen drove in three and A’s No. 27 prospect and starting pitcher Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang pitched 2 2/3 innings and struck out four to get the victory.

“We were 0-2 and the key for my role is to just win this game, and we did,” Zhuang said. “All of my teammates feel responsible and want to do everything they can do, and that's why my teammate sitting next to me hit a grand slam. I'm very thankful.”

The victory keeps Chinese Taipei’s hopes of advancing alive, though the chances are slim. It will need to beat Korea no matter what.

“Tomorrow's game is also an elimination game,” Tseng said. “We have to win to stay positive. So all of our roster is available.”

While the Czechs are all but relegated to a Qualifier – they have two days off before playing the defending champion Japan on Tuesday to finish the Tokyo pool – the team still has reason to be proud of their accomplishment. They recently won a bronze medal at the European Baseball Championship, the first medal in the country’s history.

“Because the WBC is worldwide, it has a lot wider reach, and this way, we can get more people to follow our team or notice Czech baseball and Czech players and that we have do have some talent on our team,” catcher Martin Červenka said before the game. “But talking about the European championship, it was a long-term goal of Czech baseball. We have been trying to get a medal for over 20 years and we were finally able to get one.

"It was very special to us. Within the European level and within the Czech Baseball Association, it was really important for us to see that even in Europe, we are doing the right things. We can keep going in this direction to try to get the ultimate goal, which is European gold.”