Taiwan continued their dominance in this year’s World Port Baseball Tournament with victories over Cuba and Curacao at the Familiestadion in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Monday to improve to a 4-0 record.
In the day game of the day-night doubleheader, Taiwan humbled defending champions Cuba 3-1 thanks to a brilliant effort by starter Chen Kuan-ju, who went the distance for his team in a two-hit gem to deal the Cuba their second defeat of the tournament.
Other than a leadoff single to Cuba’s Rusney Castillo that led to the lone run in the game for Cuba, the southpaw out of Fu Jen Catholic University was virtually unhittable as he baffled the opposing hitters by changing his speed, with his sliders and changeups working flawlessly to complement his fastball.
“The offspeed pitches really worked well for me today,” Chen said after the game.
Offensively for Taiwan, Lin Han’s three-for-five hitting with an RBI led an attack that rang up nine hits against two hurlers. After being shut down by Cuba starter Yosvani Torres through the fourth, the Taiwanese bats finally came alive in the fifth with a run on three hits off Torres to tie the game at 1-1, before they skidded ahead in the seventh with another run on three more hits to take the lead for good.
“Talk about not having beaten the Netherlands for some time last Friday, I can’t remember ever beating Cuba,” Taiwan head coach Chen Wei-cheng said after the big win.
Curacao 1, Taiwan 7
In the night game of the doubleheader, Taiwan also found themselves trailing 0-1 after six innings of play, before erupting for seven unanswered runs to prevail in a 7-1 triumph.
Taiwan had several opportunities to score through the sixth, but failed to convert on each with runners being gunned down at the plate on two different occasions.
The poor luck finally ended when back-to-back hits by Huang Yi-kuen and Chen Wei-chih helped drive in the tying run in the seventh inning to set up a late-game scoring binge that sealed the win.
Lin Chen-hua entered the game one out into the seventh and he was credited with the win for his 2-2/3 innings of shutout relief, while the loss went to Curacao’s Caroll Servania.
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS