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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS