Taiwan easily cruised past Hong Kong in the opener of the baseball at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday afternoon with a 12-0 shutout win in seven innings at the Munhak Baseball Stadium to begin their quest for the gold on a high note.
Starter Chen Kuan-yu struck out five of the nine batters he faced over three perfect innings to give his offense a chance to strike early and often. Even though the lefty out of National Taiwan Sport University did not qualify for the win, having pitched only three innings, his stellar effort paved the way for Taiwan’s auspicious start to the tournament.
With Chen on top of his game, the Taiwan batters wasted little time jumping on the board with three quick runs in the opening frame, two singles and a two-run double by Wang Po-jung following an error by the Hong Kong defense.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan quickly doubled their lead in the third inning after a scoreless second when Wang led off with a single off Hong Kong reliever Leung Yu-chung and scored on Lin Kun-sheng’s sacrifice fly to set up Pan Chih-fang’s two-run triple that made it 6-0.
Taiwan’s bats kept the scoring streak going with a run in the fourth, two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth against three different Hong Kong hurlers to put the game out of reach before the mercy rule was implemented after the seventh inning to end the game early.
By the time all was said and done, an incredibly efficient Taiwan offense plated a dozen runs on nine hits, while the stingy pitching allowed only two singles to Hong Kong to deny them any realistic scoring chances.
Reliever Lo Kuo-hua was credited with the win for his one inning of one-hit relief, while the loss was charged to Hong Kong starter Li Wing-sing for allowing three runs on as many hits in one inning of play.
Next up for Taiwan are a steadily improving Thailand, who lost 15-0 to South Korea in their opener last night. The game is scheduled for 6:30pm Taiwan time.
Also yesterday, Japan defeated China 11-0 after seven innings.
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