ZHENG DOMINANT IN GAME THREE WIN
Douglas Stone - LBC Sports
Douglas Stone - LBC Sports
It’s a testament to Justin Zheng’s complete dominance during this WBC that nobody was even surprised by his performance last night against Schiltzberg. The Nandaozhou ace dominated the four-time champions’ lineup from start to finish, scattering four hits and a run across a full nine innings of work. And he wouldn’t require much help from the Tigers’ impressive defense, either. Zheng stayed in control of the game the entire time, striking out fifteen batters in his complete game masterpiece and walking just one.
Laurent Mårtensson had made a change in the team’s starting lineup for the first time since the Quarterfinals, bringing in the switch-hitting Carsten Riviera to replace left-handed first baseman Nicolas Rousseau as southpaw Henry Price was to start the night’s game. But it would be a different catcher, Sofia Rasmussen, to put the Tigers’ first run on the board, smashing a poorly-placed fastball into the left-field seats to give the Llamaneans the early lead.
And Zheng began shutting down his opposition almost immediately, sending the first ten batters of the night back to the dugout empty-handed. Unfortunately, number eleven wasn’t going to go down so easily. Jeff “Ducky” Fitzhugh, the only man immune to the slump Schiltzberg’s lineup has been going through, worked a seven-pitch at-bat against the Tigers’ ace, and on the seventh pitch of the night, Zheng made a mistake. You can’t do that against any part of a lineup this good without getting punished, even if Fitzhugh’s punishment - a game-tying home run - felt a little extreme.
But afterwards, it was back to complete domination for Zheng. He didn’t throw a perfect inning after the fifth, but Schiltzberg never seriously challenged him, mustering only a runner on first (three singles, one walk) for the final four innings. The game remained close, however, until the seventh. Henry Price is a fantastic pitcher, but he hasn’t been able to carry the team on his back the way Zheng or Courtney Duvall had. And it was clear that in the seventh inning, he had simply run out of gas, leading many to criticize manager Robert Evans for not going to his bullpen earlier.
Things began ominously when Price walked the leadoff man on four pitches - never a good start to the inning, although Carsten Riviera was more than happy to take it. His next pitch was a fastball in Hector Rinaldi’s wheelhouse - unfortunately, Rinaldi’s hard-hit fly ball died in Fitzhugh’s outstretched glove on the warning track, and the slow-footed Riviera was unable to advance to second. And, for a second, it looked like a serious regret for the Tigers, as Gudjon Frandsen’s sliced single down the right-field line would have scored Riviera from second base. As it was, though, the Tigers had runners on the corners with two outs after Justin Zheng struck out.
Unfortunately for Henry Price, he still had one out to go before he could escape the inning unscathed. And the trio of Markus Wright, Sofia Rasmussen, and Isak Gunnlaugsson was an absolute nightmare for the pitcher. Price lost his grip on the inning, Wright hitting a clean single up the middle to score the go-ahead run before Rasmussen walked on five pitches and Isak Gunnlaugsson took an RBI fastball off the thigh. The Tigers could have scored more if not for a outstanding play from second baseman Rutledge, but everyone knew the game was over at 3-1.
And indeed, it was, with Justin Zheng never seriously at risk of giving up another run. That’s what Justin Zheng’s magic can get you - a 2-1 lead in the series (and we’d like to note that the Tigers have yet to lose a Justin Zheng playoff start). And when Natalie Wu takes the mound tonight, the Llamaneans will have a chance to make it a 3-1 lead. As we’ve seen last night, the Tigers do not lose 3-1 leads.