BEIJING - Matt Brown isn't used to slumps like this, at least not this summer.

The Salt Lake Bees star, who had been hitting about .325 before he left, is just 5-for-21 at the plate for the United States baseball team during the Beijing Olympics, and only 2-for-14 with one run batted in since the first two games.

On the bright side, he will get a chance to snap out of it.

Brown and the Americans assured their place in the semifinals Tuesday by beating Taiwan 4-2 at the Wukesong Baseball Field. They still have one more preliminary group game against Japan on Wednesday, which will determine whether they play unbeaten Korea or nemesis Cuba, the defending champion that has won three of the last four Olympics - with the only loss in that stretch to the Americans in the gold-medal game at the 2000 Sydney Games, where former Utah minor-leaguers Ben Sheets and Doug Mientkiewicz starred.

"We try to keep things in perspective game by game," outfielder Dexter Fowler said. But "our expectations are set for gold."

While Brown managed a single against Taiwan, he also committed an error playing first base that allowed Taiwan to score its first run in the fifth inning.

But the Americans tied it in the bottom of the fifth on second baseman' Brian Barden's double, then picked up two more runs in the sixth on outfielder John Gall's solo home run and Fowler's RBI-double. Gall added another run in the eighth, scoring on shortstop Jason Donald's single after a lead-off double.

"It was exactly what we needed to be in the running for a medal," Gall said.

Reliever Kevin Jepsen of the Bees came in to shut the door for the Americans, throwing a perfect inning in the ninth to remain perfect during the Olympics. He has allowed just one hit in 3 2/3 innings.