Rolling out 15 hits in an offensive explosion, Team Taiwan overwhelmed South Korea 11-5 in the opening game of this year’s Intercontinental Cup in Taichung yesterday afternoon to kick off the nine-day competition with a bang.
Chen Hong-wen allowed a lone hit through the fifth, a solo blast to right-center by South Korean catcher Lee Ji-young, before giving up a pair of runs in the seventh in a three-hit effort to earn the victory in front of a 17,000-plus home crowd
Lin Chih-sheng and Chen Chun-hsiu also homered about four combined runs to lead a home squad that had many worried for its lack of fire power heading into the competition.
PHOTO: LIOA YAU-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“Our concern about not being able to produce many runs was addressed in today’s game. I guess it may not be an issue after all,” a much relieved Taiwan head coach Yeh Chih-hsien said after the game.
With the entire country’s hopes for a good showing on their shoulders, the Taiwanese batters went to work right away against South Korean starter Woo Kyo-min by reaching safety in the first three at-bats to chase Woo from the game. Two of those runners would score in the opening frame by way of a double by Kuo Yen-wen and a wild pitch by South Korean reliever Im Jun-hyuk to give Taiwan a surprising 2-0 lead before Chen even took the mound.
After Lee’s solo blast made it 2-1 in the top of the third, Lin would return the favor in the -bottom of the same inning, before Chen’s three-run shot off reliever Parl Hee-soo capped a four-run fifth that gave Taiwan a comfortable 7-1 lead.
PHOTO: LIAO YAU-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Trailing by six, the South Korean hitters finally figured out Chen in the seventh by taking the right-hander deep for a two-run home run, before battering his replacement Huang Chih-long with two more runs in what ended up being a four-run spree to narrow the gap to 7-5.
That was as close as the visitors got as the Taiwanese offense awoke for four insurance runs in the eighth, highlighted by three doubles from Luo Guo-hui, Kuo and Chen Yong-chi.
Five of Taiwan’s hitters would have multi-hit games, led by Lin and Kuo’s three-hit outings.
As for South Korea, Lee’s two-for-four with three RBIs and Kim Jae-hwan’s two-run home run were the lone highlights in a game that was clearly dominated by the hosts.
Next up for Team Taiwan is the Czech Republic, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:30pm this afternoon at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium.
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