Hitters continued to struggle at the plate for Taiwan as they dropped a 3-1 decision to Japan at the Rod Carew National Stadium in Panama City, Panama, in Group A play of this year’s IBAF Baseball World Cup on Friday to remain winless at 0-5.
The loss sent Taiwan to an all-time low in their worst outing in years.
With winless Greece and a potent Puerto Rico squad remaining on the schedule, Taiwan will likely close out this tournament with an unprecedented 1-6 record.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Baseball Association
Having won their first ever title at the World Port Baseball Tournament and a second-place finish at the World Baseball Challenge earlier this year, Taiwan came into Panama City with high expectations. However, Taiwan simply did not play to their potential against teams that have boosted their roster with minor league players who had not been available earlier, which made all the difference.
Other than an eight-run outburst against Panama in their second game, Taiwan’s offense has scored only three runs in four games, well short of the lineup that averaged more than six runs per game in both the aforementioned tournaments.
“Facing tougher pitchers definitely has something to do with [poor hitting], but that does not explain how badly we’ve played lately; no discipline at the plate has really been the problem,” Taiwan skipper Chen Wei-cheng said after the game.
His troops have been fanned 21 times, while drawing only two walks in their last two games.
The lone bright spot of the game for Taiwan came in the top of the second when Chen Chun-hsiu (minor leaguer for the Cleveland Indians) led off the inning with a towering blast to left off Japan starter Naobumi Mitsuhashi to give his team a rare 1-0 lead. The run nipped a 14-inning scoreless streak for Taiwan, whose last run came in the third inning against the US on Wednesday.
The lead proved short-lived for Taiwan as Japan answered with a pair of runs off starter Wang Yao-lin in the bottom of the third when Takato Kobayashi came through with a clutch two-out, bases-loaded single to give Japan a 2-1 lead.
Lin Han’s erroneous throw on a would-be groundout to second that advanced the runner all the way to third led to Japan’s third run of the game on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze in the fourth and that was more than enough for Mitsuhashi, who went the distance in a three-hit gem to pick up the impressive victory.
Next up for Taiwan is Greece in a battle between two winless teams. It is Taiwan’s best and perhaps only chance to break into the win column before they face Puerto Rico to close out the preliminaries.
Opening pitch was scheduled for 2pm local time at the Remon Cantera Stadium in Aguadulce, Panama.
In other games, it was:
‧ Puerto Rico 10, Greece 1
‧ Panama 12, Canada 3
‧ Netherlands 7, US 5
‧ Australia 11,
Dominican Republic 9 (10)
‧ Venezuela 10, Germany 5
‧ Cuba 5, Italy 1
‧ South Korea 6, Nicaragua 4
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two