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.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS