Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching.
Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over 2 2/3 innings pitched. The 21-year-old right-hander likely would have finished the third inning had he not suffered a cramp in his right foot.
South African pitchers struggled with control, combining for nine walks -- including four by starter Damon King -- and four hit batters. In contrast, Taiwan’s pitchers allowed no walks and hit two batters.
Taiwan put runners in scoring position in the first two innings but broke through in the third when Wu Nien-ting’s (吳念庭) RBI groundout with runners on second and third put the team on the board. Chen Wen-chieh (陳文傑) soon followed with an RBI single, scoring Yu Chang (張育成).
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The lead grew in the fourth inning thanks to a bases- loaded wild pitch and an RBI groundout by captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲).
Taiwan put the game further out of reach in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, highlighted by an inside-the-park solo homer by Sung Cheng-jui (宋晟睿) in the sixth and a two-run shot by Lee Tsung-hsien (李宗賢) in the ninth.
Sung and Wang Po-hsuan (王博玄) led the team with four hits each. Lin Tzu-wei (林子偉), batting second, reached base five times on four walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
All Taiwanese batters reached base at least once.
Earlier yesterday, Nicaragua edged Spain 2-1 in 10 innings, keeping Taiwan in contention to top the group and secure a 2026 WBC berth -- provided Spain loses to South Africa today and Taiwan defeats Nicaragua.
The team with the best record after the first three games secures a qualification spot, while the second and third-placed teams are to play on Tuesday for a berth at next year’s World Baseball Classic in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and Japan.
In their first game of the qualifying tournament on Friday, Taiwan were humbled in a 12-5 drubbing against Spain, about three months after winning the WBSC Premier12 for their first-ever world championship in a major senior-level tournament.
SET News reported that Taiwan had dominated Spain in their previous four encounters over the past 37 years, including victories at the World Championships in 1988, 2005 and 2007, and a 20-0 win at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Taiwan were competitive early in the game thanks to Yu Chang’s two-run homer in the bottom of the third, although Spain had already scored four runs in the first four innings.
However, the game soon slipped out of reach as Taiwan yielded six runs in the fifth inning, at the start of which Wu Yu-cheng took the mound as Taiwan’s fourth pitcher. Wu got ahead in the count with two strikes and no balls against all four of the batters he lined up, but he could not put any of them away with his sliders.
Lu Yen-cheng relieved Wu and retired the first two batters of the inning, but allowed three consecutive batters to reach base on a walk and two hit-by-pitches before being pulled.
A two-run homer by Gabriel Lino in the top of the sixth put Taiwan at risk of a mercy-rule loss, but an RBI single by Wu Nien-ting in the seventh inning kept the game alive.
Lin Wei-en had the best pitching performance for Taiwan, striking out three while allowing just one hit in his one-inning outing in the fourth.
While Taiwan used six pitchers in the first six innings, in an apparent attempt to replicate their Premier12 success, Spain relied on Elian Leyva and Ramon Rosso for the first 5-2/3 innings.
“Spain clearly aimed to secure the first game with its two best pitchers, giving them greater flexibility for the upcoming games,” commentator Wang Yi-hsuan said.
In Friday’s other game at the Taipei Dome, South Africa pulled off a hidden ball trick for an inning-ending out against Nicaragua, but lost 2-1 in 10 innings.
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