Taiwan’s baseball team fell to Team USA 4-2 last night, dropping to 1-5 as its Olympic nightmare in Beijing continued. They fell just short in a close game that might have been won with forward-thinking managing.
Team USA starter Brandon Knight picked up the win with 6 1/3 solid innings of work, outdueling Taiwanese starter Hsu Wen-hsiung.
Knight and Hsu traded scoreless frames through four innings until Taiwan broke the scoring drought in the top of the fifth when shortstop Lin Che-shen scored on first baseman Matt Brown’s error, giving the team a 1-0 lead.
The US responded quickly in the bottom of the 5th on Brian Barden’s RBI double to right-center field, scoring Dexter Fowler and tying the game at 1-1.
The US got to Hsu in the bottom of the sixth when US catcher Lou Marson led off the inning with a solo shot to left field, a missile that put the team up 2-1.
Shortstop Jason Donald walked, and then scored on Fowler’s double down the left field line off reliever Lee Chen-chang to make it 3-1.
Lin homered in the top of the seventh inning to pull the game within one run, but the US added an insurance run in the top of the eighth when Donald singled in outfielder John Gall, making the score 4-2.
US reliever Kevin Jepsen worked a perfect ninth to pick up the save.
Taiwan manager Hong Yi-chen continued his pattern of erratic substitution patterns and questionable bullpen management, again sticking with pitchers too long and hurting his team’s chances of victory in a winnable game. His bizarre substitution of Chiang Chien-ming for fellow outfielder Lin Che-hsuan during the fifth inning cost the team one of its few left-handed bats.
Hong will be questioned for not removing a fatigued Hsu after the fifth inning, and not putting in lefty specialist Ni Fu-te to face a string of left-handed hitters in the US lineup.
The US instead pounced on Hsu and righty sidearmer Lee in the sixth, putting the team up for good.
Out of contention for the finals, Taiwan play their final game against Canada tonight at 6pm.
In other results, Canada walked over the Netherlands 4-0, South Korea downed Cuba 7-4 and China were annihilated by Japan 10-0 after the mercy rule was invoked.
Also See: Olympic coverage
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
RSS