With Japan beating South Korea in last night's thriller 4-3, Taiwan still have a chance to make next year's Beijing Olympics today in Taichung.
There's a but though -- only a big win over Japan will do.
With South Korea expected to beat the Philippines easily in today's other game in the Asian Baseball Championship, Taiwan need to win to achieve a 2-1 record, level with the Japanese and the South Koreans.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
A win by a big enough margin would be enough to see the hosts victorious in the tournament, and book an Olympic berth.
Taiwan blanked the Philippines in their second game of the championship yesterday afternoon with a 9-0 triumph at Taichung's Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to improve to 1-1.
Chen Chin-fong continued his productive hitting with a three-run home run off Filipino starter Ernesto Binarao in the opening inning to give the hosts a 3-0 lead, as they went on to defeat the visitors by a big margin.
The former Los Angles Dodger followed his two-for-three hitting with an RBI in the opener with another multi-hit effort, this time going two-for-four to lead his team with a .571 batting average.
Also starring for Taiwan was slugger Peng Cheng-min (Brother Elephants) who went three-for-four and scored three times in a winning cause.
Taking the mound for Taiwan with seven shutout innings of play was lefty Lin Ying-jeh, who surrendered four hits and fanned four while walking one to earn the victory.
The former Macoto Cobras ace, currently playing for Japan's Rakuten Eagles, kept the Filipino hitters off-balance with a repertoire of pitches consisting of a 140kph-plus fastball and a nasty slider together with an occasional change-up.
Veteran right-hander Hsu Ming-jeh (Japan's Seibu Lions) tossed a hitless eighth in relief of Lin before lefty Shen Yu-jeh (Chinatrust Whales) did mop-up duty with a scoreless ninth to keep the shutout intact.
"We did what we were supposed to do and that's all I can ask for of this team; even though we could have done a lot of things better, a win is a win," Taiwan's head coach Kuo Tai-yuan said after the game.
Defensively for the Philippines, four different hurlers were used in the game, with starter Binarao allowing five runs on eight hits over four frames and Charlie Labrador giving up a pair of runs and hits in as many innings before Roy Batuto and Darwin Dela Calzada lost the final two runs in the ninth.
Binarao ended up taking the loss on behalf of the Philippines as they remained winless at 0-2 in the three-game medal round after dropping the first game to Japan on Saturday 0-10.
Later yesterday, Japan held on in a thrilling contest to beat South Korea 4-3.
Japan now have a 2-0 record, and any sort of result against the hosts today would see them qualify for next year's Olympics.
Additional reporting by staff wriTer
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