Failure to produce the clutch hits necessary by going a combined 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position cost Taiwan Game Four at the Olympics with a 0-1 final to Cuba.
It was Taiwan’s second straight loss by one run after Friday’s game against China.
The game at Wukesong Baseball Field yesterday dealt the team its third straight defeat since the 5-0 win over the Netherlands on opening day for a dismal 1-3 record, all but eliminating Taiwan from advancing to the medals round.
The poor outing by Taiwan’s offense wasted an otherwise brilliant performance by starter Lee Chen-chang, who took a one-hit shutout into the seventh before giving up a solo home run to Cuba’s Frederich Cepeda in what ended up being the game-winning run.
Lee struck out seven over six-and-two-thirds innings of play, retiring eleven in a row over one stretch against the defending champs to keep his club in the game.
Equally outstanding for Cuba on the mound was starter Elier Sanchez, who hurled seven scoreless frames on a three-hit effort before fellow reliever Norberto Gonzalez registered a near-perfect eighth and ninth to keep the shutout victory intact.
Taiwan’s offense struggled with two of its regular starters out of the lineup. Shih Chih-wei’s 1-for-4 effort represented the lone hit in a 1-for-10 batting for the supposedly top three hitters on the team.
Despite the unfavorable outcome, the game was a morale booster for Taiwan in light of its first-ever loss to China in an international competition the previous day and as it was missing top hitters Chang Tai-shan and Chen Chin-feng. Chang is out for the remainder of the competition after testing positive in a routine drug test and Chen is out for at least two games following an injury.
No games are scheduled for today as all eight squads take a break from four straight days of grueling competition. Next up for Taiwan in the seven-game preliminary round will be South Korea in a must-win game tomorrow if Taiwan wants to avoid a possible last-place finish.
The game is scheduled for 11:30am with Game-One winner Chen Wei-yin as the probable starter.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS