Taiwan on Thursday lost an exhibition game to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4-0, but Taiwanese fireballer Hsu Jo-hsi’s dominant performance for the Hawks gave local fans reason for hope ahead of the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Hsu, who is to represent Taiwan at the WBC, tossed three scoreless innings for the Hawks, the defending champions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
He threw 44 pitches and surrendered only one hit, with his fastball topping out at 159.3kph, tying his career high.
Photo: CNA
Thursday’s exhibition at the Taipei Dome marked the right-hander’s first formal game appearance in five months.
Speaking after the game, Hsu said he has progressed slowly in finding his rhythm during spring training.
“Sometimes you don’t get that feel back until you’re in a real game,” Hsu said. “I told myself to throw at 100 percent today so I could gauge whether I was truly back in game mode.”
Photo: CNA
Hsu, who joined the Hawks in late December last year on a three-year deal worth up to US$15 million, said he started for the Japanese club on Thursday to create some chemistry with his new teammates ahead of this year’s season in Japan.
Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo praised the performance, calling it Hsu’s best outing since the start of spring training, adding that he would be “a tough pitcher for Team Japan to handle” during the WBC.
Meanwhile, Taiwan manager Tseng Hao-jiu credited the Hawks’ hitters for their superior execution, noting their ability to capitalize on pitchers’ mistakes.
Taiwan’s batters struggled, managing only two hits in what was the team’s first shutout loss across six warm-up games.
Despite the runless performance, veteran infielder Wu Nien-ting, who recorded one of the team’s two hits, remained confident.
“The team’s overall condition isn’t bad,” Wu said. “We’re just hoping to find our groove offensively very soon.”
Taiwan wrapped up their domestic exhibition schedule against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters at the Taipei Dome yesterday, losing 6-1.
Their opening game at the WBC is to be against hosts and defending WBC champions Japan at the Tokyo Dome on Friday next week.
San Diego Padres reliever Yuki Matsui has been ruled out for Japan at the tournament because of a groin strain.
Matsui was still throwing off flat ground on Thursday, a week after cutting short a batting practice session because of the groin.
“Right now, I’m just continuing the throwing progression, getting intensities and distances of [playing] catch back up,” Matsui told reporters through a translator. “Once it’s good enough, then I’ll start throwing off the mound, but as to when, we don’t know yet.”
The 30-year-old Matsui, who is 7-3 in the MLB with a 3.86 ERA in 125 appearances in two seasons since signing a US$28 million, five-year deal with the Padres, also said he was not sure yet about opening day.
San Diego’s opener is March 26 at home against the Detroit Tigers.
Additional reporting by AP
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