Stuart Fairchild’s second-inning grand slam powered Taiwan to a 14-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday at the World Baseball Classic.
The victory was Taiwan’s first in the tournament and came the day after it was pounded 13-0 by Japan and by Shohei Ohtani’s grand slam. The Czechs have lost all three.
The game was stopped by the mercy rule with Taiwan leading by 10 or more after seven innings.
Taiwan played small ball for a 2-0 lead in the first inning, capitalizing on two bunt singles, a double steal and a throwing error by Czech catcher Martin Cervenka. It was Taiwan’s first two runs of the tournament.
It was big ball in the second inning.
With two out, Czech pitcher Jan Novak gave up a single and walked two, setting the stage for Fairchild’s drama on the blast of left field.
Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang got the victory and Novak was the losing pitcher.
Taiwan added two more runs in the fourth, another in the fifth and five in the sixth. They also set a WBC tournament record with seven stolen bases.
Fairchild qualified for the team through his Taiwanese mother and plays in the Cleveland Guardians organization.
Pool favorite Japan (1-0) faced South Korea (1-0) later on Saturday in Pool C. Australia is 2-0 and leads the pool and did not play on Saturday.
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