Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday.
Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida.
Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored a run in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead. Closer Tseng Jyun-yue (曾峻岳) then sealed the victory with three quick outs.
Photo: Reuters
The win marks the first time Taiwan’s national squad beat their South Korean counterparts in the WBC after losing four previous matchups.
In a post-game interview, manager Tseng Hao-jiu (曾豪駒) attributed the victory to the all-out efforts made by every player.
“I think everyone did their job well. [They] focused on every pitch and did not leave anything on the field,” he said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“Because we all know that in this game, if you make a slight mistake, victory would be snatched away. I am grateful to all the players for focusing on winning this one,” Tseng told a Taiwanese sports reporter following the game.
Before yesterday’s match, Taiwan — whose sole win in the group came from crushing the Czech Republic 14-0 in a mercy-rule victory on Saturday — needed to beat South Korea yesterday, while hoping Japan would defeat Australia in the evening, with South Korea then going on to beat Australia today.
Japan last night narrowly beat Australia 4-3.
Photo: AFP
Only under that scenario — in which Taiwan, South Korea and Australia would all finish with 2-2 records in Pool C — Taipei could hope that the WBC tiebreaker rules would work in its favor.
Although clinching yesterday’s win does not guarantee that Taiwan would advance to Miami, Tseng said the team has done their best and are waiting to see how things turn out.
In yesterday’s back-and-forth game, Taipei gained an early 1-0 lead with Chang’s solo home run to left field in the top of the second inning.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan’s starting ace Gu Lin Ruei-yang (古林睿煬), who plays for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, cruised through four scoreless innings before being replaced in the top of the fifth with runners on first and third and no outs.
Reliever Lin Wei-en (林維恩) then took the mound and minimized the damage by forcing a ground ball double play, although South Korea tied the game in the process.
Cheng broke the tie with another solo home run in the top of the sixth inning to briefly give Taiwan the lead.
Photo: AFP
Soon after, Kim Do-yeong hit a two-run blast to lead Taiwan by one at the bottom of the sixth.
Like two boxers trading punches, Fairchild landed the next blow, with a two-run homer in the top of the eighth rekindling Taiwan’s hopes, before Kim again hit a game-tying RBI double to tie the game 4-4.
Entering the 10th inning, team captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) — who has been sidelined over the past two games after his finger was fractured by a pitch in the WBC opener against Australia — scored the winning run from second base on two consecutive bunts, including an RBI-single bunt by Chiang Ku-yu (江坤宇).
Photo: Reuters
Gu Lin in a post-game interview said he always believed he was as good against South Korea, and that he did his best to use as few pitches as possible by attacking the strike zone.
He called the victory unforgettable for him and the team.
Fighting back tears after the game, which drew more than 40,584 fans to the Tokyo Dome, Chen Chieh-hsien said the moment carried special meaning for players who grew up watching Taiwan repeatedly fall just short against its regional rival.
"I feel so happy," Chen said. "Our generation has created many things that once seemed impossible."
Reflecting on years of narrow losses to South Korea since his childhood, Chen said that while Korea might still hold advantages in power and pitching, anything can happen in a single international game.
"As kids we watched these tournaments and we were always just a little short of beating Korea," he said. "Today we finally did it."
Fairchild, who hit home runs in two consecutive games, said he was looking for something “up in the zone” and was lucky to see a slider and hit it hard in the eighth inning.
Asked to comment on the long-running baseball rivalry between Taiwan and South Korea, Fairchild, who was playing for Taiwan for the first time, said it was clear from the beginning that “there was passion on both sides with the fans.”
“I mean, the fans came out, supported us and gave us the energy we needed to push through,” said the Taiwanese-American outfielder, who plays for the Cleveland Guardians in the US.
In Taipei, President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) congratulated the team.
Lai, writing on Facebook, thanked “all the Taiwan heroes,” calling them “our proudest Team Taiwan” for keeping the nation’s hopes alive of advancing to the quarter-finals.
Every player fought to the end to secure the win, he said, quoting Gu Lin as saying in an interview on Saturday that “South Korea is super tough, but we are also super tough.”
“Team Taiwan directly proved this statement true with their performance,” Lai wrote.
In a separate Facebook post, Cho also congratulated the team on its victory.
He thanked Taiwanese fans who supported the team in Tokyo, at home and at watch parties, saying their encouragement motivated the players.
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