Australia opened the World Baseball Classic by beating Taiwan 3-0 on Travis Bazzana's homer in the seventh inning and a two-run home run in the fifth by Robbie Perkins at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday.
Bazzana was the first pick in the 2024 MLB amateur draft and is expected to be in Triple A this season in the Cleveland Guardians organization.
“If you think of the two things I thought about most growing up it was, like, playing in the WBC and being in the Tokyo
Dome cause we'd always come here — and playing the World Series and MLB. It’s special," Bazzana said.
Of course, his World Series dream is yet to come.
He also credited Perkins for getting Australia in front, removing some pressure.
“It makes slowing down the environment a touch easier when you have two runs already,” Bazzana said. “I was feeling good in the box and got a good pitch to hit.”
The two big swings were enough in a tight game dominated by pitching. Taiwan managed only three hits and Australia had seven.
It was a critical victory for Australia, which also won its first game in 2023, defeating South Korea en route to reaching the quarterfinals and a narrow 4-3 loss to Cuba.
Australian starter Alex Wells pitched three no-hit innings and Jack O'Loughlin negotiated the next three and allowed only two hits, setting the stage for the bullpen.
O'Loughlin got the victory with a save for Jon Kennedy. Po-Yu Chen was the losing pitcher.
Following Perkins' homer, Taiwan put two runners on in the sixth with two out but failed to score. The second to reach base was Chieh-hsien Chen who was hit by a pitch on the his right hand and left the game.
Australia loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and failed to score when Chris Burke popped out on the second pitch from reliever Yi Chang. Taiwan put two runners on in the top of the ninth and almost tied the game on a deep flyout by Lyle Lin.
South Korea hit four home runs and overpowered the Czech Republic 11-4 in Pool C in the day's second game at the Tokyo Dome.
Shay Whitcomb of the Houston Astros hit two home runs in back-to-back plate appearances, teammate Bo Gyeong Moon pounded a grand slam and Jahmai Jones of the Detroit Tigers added a solo shot in the eighth inning.
Moon’s grand slam came in the first inning with one out that chased starter Daniel Padysak, who picked up the loss. Whitcomb hit a solo home run in the third and added a two-run homer in the fifth.
The Czech Republic’s Terrin Vavra connected on a three-run homer in the fifth off Woo Joo Jeong to narrow the lead to 6-3, only to be overshadowed by Whitcomb’s second homer in the bottom of the inning.
Vavra played a handful of games for the Baltimore Orioles, the only Czech player with MLB experience.
South Korea is deep in major league talent led by the Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim and the San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee.
South Korea is trying to advance from the pool stage in the WBC after three straight failures.
On Friday in Pool C, Australia faces the Czech Republic and Japan plays Taiwan.
The top two teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals in the United States, joining the top two in the other three groups.
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