Taiwan proved no match for South Korea in the baseball opener at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last night, dropping a 6-1 decision to their archrivals from the north to begin the quest to defend their title on a down note.
Starter Lin Yi-hao gave up a pair of two-run homers to South Korea’s Choo Shih-soo that set his team back by four over the first three innings, a deficit that seemed insurmountable for the Taiwan offense against the outstanding pitching of South Korea starter Ryo Hyun-in.
Even though Taiwan’s bats seemed to come alive toward the end of the game when they managed to pound out seven hits, the lone run they had to show for it on the board told the story as they stranded eight runners to lose by a landslide.
Photo: AFP
“The two homers really hurt us today,” Taiwan head coach Yeh Chih-shien said in a post-game interview.
His troops fell behind early and were greatly affected by the deficit as the hitters grew impatient against the South Korea pitching, constantly swinging at bad pitches from the fourth inning onward.
Miscues in base-running also cost Taiwan dearly in the game as Luo Kuo-hui overran third in the top of the seventh to give South Korea a chance to tag him out at the home plate for the second out of the inning, negating an excellent scoring opportunity for his team as it turned what could have been a one-out with runners on second and third into a two-outs with a runner on first.
As a result, Taiwan failed to score in the inning after the first two hitters reached safely.
“He [Luo] really didn’t have to rush home on that play since we were behind by a few runs and we really needed more base runners instead of risking everything,” Yeh said after the game.
Despite the setback, there was one highlight for Taiwan, as reliever Yang Yao-hsun dominated the opposing hitters with nearly four innings of three-hit ball that kept South Korea from pouring on the runs.
Even though Yang was ultimately charged with two allowed runs on three hits over three-and-two-third innings of play, his timely surge probably earned him a start and a ton of Yeh’s confidence.
Picking up the win for South Korea was starter Ryu, who allowed a run on five hits over six innings, while the loss went to Lin, who lasted only two-plus with four runs charged to him on five hits.
Next up for Taiwan will be a weaker Pakistan squad that beat Hong Kong 5-3 in their opener earlier yesterday. The game is scheduled for 1pm at the Aoti Baseball Field.
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