Taiwan captain Ngayaw Ake (also known as Lin Chih-sheng, 林智勝) led by example when he blasted a three-run homer against Cuba pitcher Danny Betancourt in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie to lead the hosts to a 4-1 victory over Cuba in World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 action at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium last night.
It was a night to remember, marking a rare victory against the Red Lightning.
Taiwan last beat Cuba in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup. Since then, Cuba had recorded five straight wins against Taiwan in major international competitions.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Taiwan opened the scoring in the second frame, when outfielder Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼) hit a grounder up the middle to drive Chen Yung-chi (陳鏞基) home.
A pitching duel then ensued between both teams’ starters — Taiwan’s Sung Chia-hao (宋家豪) and Cuba’s Yoanni Yera — with the hosts hanging on to a slender one-run lead.
Cuba leveled the game at 1-1 in the sixth inning, when Cuba outfielder Alfredo Despaigne hit a bouncer that Taiwan shortstop Kuo Yen-wen (郭嚴文) could not handle, allowing runner Yulieski Gurriel to come home from third base.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
That set the stage for Lin’s heroics in the eighth, with his third homer in three straight games for the hosts to chalk up an important victory.
In other results from last night, Canada blanked Italy 4-0 in Group A, while South Korea edged Mexico 4-3 and Japan overwhelmed the US 10-2 in the showdown between the two top teams in Group B.
The US led 2-1 until the fifth frame, but in subsequent innings the Samurai Warriors exploded with long-ball firepower to take the victory.
With two men on base, slugger Nakata Sho struck a towering shot that landed in the seats for a three-run homer in the sixth. Then with bases loaded, Japan captain Matsuda Nobuhiro clobbered a grand slam homer over the left-field fence in the seventh inning to ensure the win.
In yesterday’s afternoon action, the Netherlands piled on runs early to go 8-0 by the second inning, and coasted to an 11-7 triumph over Puerto Rico.
The other afternoon contest saw a spirited comeback victory by Venezuela in an 8-6 triumph over the Dominican Republic.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
RSS