Taiwan accomplished the near-impossible by beating Cuba in a 4-3 thriller in Taichung on Thursday night to qualify for the medal round of the 2006 XVI Intercontinental Cup Baseball Championship.
Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (Sinon Bulls) smashed a two-run homer and Keng Bo-hsuan threw three innings of scoreless relief to lead the way for the hosts as they topped the Cubans for only the second in the 33-year tournament history (the first ever win for Taiwan over Cuba was in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup).
The game began with the "Red Lightning" from Cuba threatening with three hits over the first two frames against Taiwanese starter Luo Cheng-long. But two key strikeouts in the first and an inning-ending double play by Taiwan were able to keep it scoreless.
Luo's luck finally ran out in the third when back-to-back singles by Cuba's Giorvis Duvergel and Eduardo Paret, coupled with a wild relay throw by outfielder Tsang Chih-yao led to Cuba's first run before Yulieski Gourriel's sacrifice fly to shallow-right made it 2-0 in Cuba's favor.
Spotted a two-run lead heading into the third, Cuban starter Dennis Suarez quickly retired the first hitter he faced on three straight strikes before issuing the first of his two walks in the inning to put runners on first and second.
In came Tsang, who promptly lined a single up the middle to score Taiwan's first run of the game before a balk by Suarez led to the second run for Taiwan, knotting things up at 2-2.
After Suarez induced a groundout to short by Chen Yong-ji that held the runner at third for the second out of the inning, the rattled Cuban hurler seemed well on his way to getting out of the inning without losing any more grounds with a slumping Chang on deck.
That was not the case as Chang got a hold of a pitch from Suarez and drilled it over the leftfield wall for a two-run homer that put Taiwan ahead 4-2.
"I knew it the second I hit it," Chang said after the game.? He was greeted by the dugout after his game-deciding swing.
Trailing by a deuce, the Cubans found themselves in unfamiliar territory, but were able to adjust against the Taiwanese pitching as they managed to score a run off reliever Tseng Song-wei in the sixth on Yoandry Urgelles' second hit of the game to make it 4-3.
That was as close as Cuba would get with Keng entering the game to start the seventh and retiring all but two of the ten batters he faced over three shutout innings to secure the narrow win for his team.
Fortunately for Taiwan two of the four hits that it belted off the Cubans came during the decisive third as Cuba actually outhit Taiwan by a whopping 10-4 margin.
Earning the memorable win for Taiwan was Tseng who allowed a run on three hits over 3-1/3 innings of play to beat Cuba's Suarez, who gave up all four of Taiwan's runs on three hits and four deadly walks in the three innings he pitched.
Upcoming Contests
The rematch of Thursday night's contest between Taiwan and Cuba this evening at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung will represent one of the two games scheduled in the medal rounds this year, with Japan taking on the Netherlands in the other game.
Winners of these two games will play in tomorrow's title game while the losers will fight for third-place in a consolation game also scheduled for tomorrow.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS