Taiwan stormed into the title game at this year’s World Port Baseball Tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with an impressive 4-1 win over Cuba late yesterday.
It was the second time that Taiwan had defeated the defending champs from Cuba in less than a week, putting a very satisfied smile on skipper Chen Wei-cheng’s face after the game.
“I know they [Cuba] did not send their top team this year, but it is still a great accomplishment for us to be able to beat them twice within the last week,” Chen said after the game.
Cuba had decided not to send its top team to this year’s tournament, unlike in previous years, without any explanation.
Similar to its previous win against Cuba on Monday, Taiwan were trailing 0-1 through the sixth after starter Chen Yu-hsun gave up a run in the third on a double down the leftfield line to Cuba’s Rusney Castillo to set up Yoilan Cerce’s RBI single up the middle.
Even though Taiwan had plenty of scoring opportunities over the first six innings of play, with seven hits off Cuba starter Yosvani Torres, a lack of timely hitting left them empty-handed on each occasion as they stranded a total of seven by going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Torres’ luck finally ran out in the seventh with Taiwan’s Yang Kuan-wei pounding out a bases-loaded single to left to score the tying run after Lin Wei-ting and Chen Chih-wei led off the inning with back-to-back singles.
Taiwan scored three more times in the same inning with a pair of hits off relievers Ismel Jimenez and Duniel Ibarra to take a 4-1 lead.
That was more than ample as Chen Yu-hsun retired the side in a perfect eighth before fellow righty Lin Yu-ching finished the game off with a flawless ninth to seal the win for Chen Yu-hsun.
On Thursday, Taiwan fell to the Netherlands 4-2 to suffer their first defeat of the tournament. Starter Wang Wei-chung fell behind early to the hosts 0-4 with a run in the third and three in the fourth on four hits and as many walks.
The deficit proved too much for Taiwan’s hitters to overcome as they managed only two runs the rest of the way to fall short by two in the end.
Wang was charged with the loss for giving up the early lead, while the win went to his counterpart Diegomar Markwell.
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