Long balls saved the day for Team Taiwan in what was supposed to be an easy match against China yesterday, as the side improved to 3-0 in the baseball competition of the 2006 Asian Games at Doha with a narrow 4-2 victory.
Chang Tai-shan (Sinon Bulls) and Chen Chin-fong -- the top two home run hitters in Taiwan's professional baseball league -- took charge with a solo blast apiece to provide just enough offense to fend off a much-improved China team. In the process, Taiwan received a wakeup call ahead of Thursday's title match against Japan.
The game began with a scoreless first inning before Taiwan drew first blood in the bottom of the second with Chang's solo shot to deep-left off Chinese starter Guo You-hua earning a 1-0 advantage.
PHOTO: CNA
The one-run lead for Taiwan would last less than an inning as China answered with a run of their own, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Zhang Yu-feng after two of the first three batters managed to reach first and third against Taiwan starter Tseng Song-wei to tie the game at 1-all.
A misjudged fly ball to deep-left by Taiwan's Chen Yong-ji was ruled a triple to put the speedy second baseman on third in the bottom of the third, setting up slugger Lin Chih-sheng's RBI groundout to short for Taiwan's second run of the contest.
Lin Wei-ju's fly ball to right-center on the ensuing play was mishandled by the Chinese outfielder, leading to another run for Taiwan and increasing the team's lead to 3-1 by the end of the third inning.
That slim advantage would stand through the end of the sixth, with neither team able to produce anything offensively against the solid pitching of Tseng and three different Chinese relievers.
But China struck again in the top of the seventh on Zhang Hong-bo's solo homer off Tseng, making it 3-2 and setting up a close finish.
But that was when Chen Chin-fong decided to take matters into his own hands by crushing a knee-high pitch from Chinese reliever Zhang Li over the leftfield wall for a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth that put Taiwan ahead 4-2.
China's final offensive would hit a brick wall in the ninth thanks to Taiwan reliever Keng Po-hsuen, as the right-hander promptly retired the side in order to preserve the win for his team.
Tseng was credited with the win for his seven innings of play, allowing two runs on six hits while fanning eight and walking two.
Taking the loss for China was starter Guo, who surrendered three runs (two earned) in as many innings for his first loss in the tournament. The slew of China relievers really kept the Taiwan hitters off balance from the fourth inning on, proving that the once-wide gap in the level of play between the two teams has been drastically reduced.
The win improves Taiwan, the only team competing here with players from the US Major Leagues, to 3-0 in the six-team, round-robin competition.
Next up for Taiwan will be a somewhat weaker Philippines squad -- which will be happy to gain some international competition experience tomorrow afternoon -- before Thursday's showdown against Japan, where the winners will likely be crowned the kings of Asian baseball for the next four years.
South Korea 12, Thailand 1
In the other game yesterday, Jang Sung-ho hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and had four RBIs overall as South Korea evened its record at 2-2 with a 12-1 win over Thailand.
Japan 16, China 0
On Sunday, two pitchers combined for a no-hitter and third baseman Kosuke Ueyama knocked in five runs as Japan stayed perfect in Asian Games baseball with a 16-0 win over China.
Starter Takuya Ishiguro pitched four innings and Shoji Saieki the fifth in the shortened game.
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