Taiwan overcame a two-run deficit in the seventh, forced the game into extra innings, and ousted Cuba 10-6 in the second round of play in the World Baseball Challenge at the Citizen Field Park in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, late on Friday night to advance to today’s title game.
The win not only avenged a tough loss to Cuba in the preliminary round for the Islanders, but more importantly it earned them a day off yesterday as the other squads were left to play out the rest of the double-elimination second round to determine who would face Taiwan in today’s title match.
Starter Chen Yu-hsun ran into trouble early and allowed three quick runs in the opening frame off a pair of singles and a two-out two-run double to fall behind 3-0.
However, Taiwan’s bats would bail out Chen for his early mistakes as they scored the next four runs, three off Cuban starter Miguel Gonzalez and another off reliever Alberto Soto to take a surprising 4-3 lead after four innings of play, highlighted by a solo blast in the second inning by Huang Yi-kun and an RBI single from Yu Tsung-han in the third.
Taiwan’s lead would last less than an inning as Chen failed to keep the opposing hitters at bay in the fifth, despite holding the Cubans to only a lone hit from second through the fourth, by walking a pair to set up Alfredo Despaigne’s three-run home run that set Taiwan back by two runs.
Trailing by two, Taiwan’s offense would strike again against Cuba with Lin Wei-ting delivering a clutch two-out single with the bases loaded to tie the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh, a score that remained through the ninth, before a four-run 10th blew the game wide open in the eventual 10-6 rout.
Right-hander Lin Chen-hua ably recorded the final three outs to earn the well-deserved victory, pitching shutout ball on no hits over 2-2/3 innings of impeccable relief to beat his counterpart Jonder Martinez in convincing fashion.
Team Canada and Japan’s Toshiba Baseball each won their second-round contest against the Bahamas and China’s Beijing Tigers respectively, and were to battle early yesterday with the winner to later play Cuba to earn the right to play Taiwan in today’s title game.
Skipper Chen Wei-cheng will have most of his pitchers available as Taiwan look to bring home their first gold in the competition’s history.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS