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Taiwan stands up and delivers in World Cup

Players from the Dominican Republic bow their heads out of respect for those who died in the plane crash yesterday morning in New York. Taiwan won the match in Chaiyi 5-1. PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwan relied on another powerful pitching performance from Hsu Ming-chien (許銘傑) to defeat the Dominican Republic 5-1 yesterday at Chiayi City Stadium.

The win, coupled with Nicaragua's 13-0 loss to South Korea, qualified Taiwan for the tournament's medal round.

Hsu, who defeated Italy earlier in the tournament, faltered only in the fourth inning when he yielded a run on three straight singles.

He held the Dominicans to six hits the rest of the way, picking off two base runners.

Hsu said he was not giving the Dominicans much to hit.

"In the first few innings I found that the Dominican hitters like to swing at the first pitches.

"So catcher Hong I-chung (洪一中) and I decided to throw some breaking balls to see if we could fool them," said Hsu.

Hsu also got some help from Taiwan's defense, which committed no errors, improving dramatically from Sunday's 6-0 loss to the US when it committed five errors.

This time Taiwan was on the receiving end of the miscues.

Taiwan scored its first run in the fifth inning when Dominican starting pitcher Wilson Sido threw a potential double-play ball to end the inning past second base and into the outfield.

Yang Sun-hsian (楊松弦) followed later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run.

Taiwan added a run in the sixth when Chen Tai-feng (陳大豐) singled, advance to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an error.

Hong I-chung and Hsu Sheng-chieh (許聖杰) hit RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to end the scoring.

"We played very tight the first five innings," said Taiwan manager Lin Hua-wei (林華韋).

"We relied on some excellent defense the rest of the way and our offense picked up so we could win the game."

"Our fans were making a lot of noise and putting pressure on the Dominicans. As a result they made some errors," said Lin.

Taiwan finishes round-robin play today at 6pm against South Korea at Chengching Lake Stadium in Kaohsiung County. At stake is top seed from Group A in the medal round.

Australia 12, Philippines 0

At Shinchuan, Australia (3-3) kept its hopes alive for a quarterfinal berth, pounding the Philippines in a game cut short after seven innings due to the mercy rule.

Adam Burton had three hits, two stolen bases, and drove in a run for Australia.

Japan 6, Canada 2

At Shinchuan, Fuji Shugo struck out 11 Canadian batters in five innings to lead Japan to its sixth straight win.

He allowed one unearned run and only two hits.

Panama 10, Russia 3

At Tienmu Stadium, Julio Mosquera hit a two-run homer and an RBI single as Panama (4-2) kept its hopes alive for a quarterfinal berth in Group B.

Team USA 8, Italy 0

At Kaohsiung, the US kept in the hunt for a quarterfinal spot by shutting out Italy.

Jason Phillips, who pitched for Cleveland's Triple-A Buffalo team this year, threw five two-hit innings with four relievers completing the shutout.

South Korea 12, Nicaragua 1

At Chiayi City, South Korea booked their place in the medal round, routing Nicaragua in seven innings.

Cuba 6, Netherlands 2

At Tienmu Stadium, Cuba avenged its defeat to the Netherlands in last year's Olympic with the win. Antonio Pacheco's two-run homer that hit the foul pole in the seventh inning broke the game open.

South Africa 4, France 3

In Kaohsiung, South Africa broke a 17-game Baseball World Cup losing streak stretching back to 1974 by beating France.

Damien Davids had a pair of hits, including the game-inning single in the bottom of the13th inning.
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