Taiwan overcame a two-run deficit in the seventh, forced the game into extra innings, and ousted Cuba 10-6 in the second round of play in the World Baseball Challenge at the Citizen Field Park in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, late on Friday night to advance to today’s title game.
The win not only avenged a tough loss to Cuba in the preliminary round for the Islanders, but more importantly it earned them a day off yesterday as the other squads were left to play out the rest of the double-elimination second round to determine who would face Taiwan in today’s title match.
Starter Chen Yu-hsun ran into trouble early and allowed three quick runs in the opening frame off a pair of singles and a two-out two-run double to fall behind 3-0.
However, Taiwan’s bats would bail out Chen for his early mistakes as they scored the next four runs, three off Cuban starter Miguel Gonzalez and another off reliever Alberto Soto to take a surprising 4-3 lead after four innings of play, highlighted by a solo blast in the second inning by Huang Yi-kun and an RBI single from Yu Tsung-han in the third.
Taiwan’s lead would last less than an inning as Chen failed to keep the opposing hitters at bay in the fifth, despite holding the Cubans to only a lone hit from second through the fourth, by walking a pair to set up Alfredo Despaigne’s three-run home run that set Taiwan back by two runs.
Trailing by two, Taiwan’s offense would strike again against Cuba with Lin Wei-ting delivering a clutch two-out single with the bases loaded to tie the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh, a score that remained through the ninth, before a four-run 10th blew the game wide open in the eventual 10-6 rout.
Right-hander Lin Chen-hua ably recorded the final three outs to earn the well-deserved victory, pitching shutout ball on no hits over 2-2/3 innings of impeccable relief to beat his counterpart Jonder Martinez in convincing fashion.
Team Canada and Japan’s Toshiba Baseball each won their second-round contest against the Bahamas and China’s Beijing Tigers respectively, and were to battle early yesterday with the winner to later play Cuba to earn the right to play Taiwan in today’s title game.
Skipper Chen Wei-cheng will have most of his pitchers available as Taiwan look to bring home their first gold in the competition’s history.
His nickname might mean “Little Gabriel,” but even though he is just 1.21m tall, Gabriel dos Santos Araujo is a giant of Paralympic swimming. “My name is Gabrielzinho and I’m going for three gold medals at the Paris Paralympics,” the smiling 22-year-old Brazilian said, before receiving a kiss on the forehead from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at an official ceremony last month in Brasilia. Gabrielzinho’s objective at the Paralympics, which opens on Wednesday, is to upgrade from the two golds and one silver he won at the Tokyo Games three years ago. When he is not doing
BACK ON COURT: After arriving on court in a brightly colored outfit with a giant bow, Osaka stunned Ostapenko to record her first top-10 win in four years Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday survived US Open first-round wobbles to stay on course for a semi-final showdown, while two-time champion Naomi Osaka made a tearful and colorful return to Flushing Meadows. World No. 1 Sinner fought back from a set and break down to defeat 140th-ranked Mackenzie McDonald in his first match since being embroiled in a doping test controversy. Italian Sinner battled to a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win over American opponent McDonald at Arthur Ashe Stadium, racing away with 18 of the last 22 games. The 23-year-old was returning to action just a week after it was revealed
NOT THIS YEAR: Teams from Taiwan have won 17 titles at the tournament, second only to the US with 30. This year was the nation’s first championship game since 2009 Taiwan fell just short in Sunday’s championship game of the Little League World Series (LLWS) in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, losing 2-1 to Florida. Despite the defeat, it was still the best finish for Taiwan at the LLWS since Taoyuan’s Guishan Little League, the country’s representative again this year, lost the 2009 championship game 6-3 to California. Entering Howard J. Lamade Stadium on Sunday on a five-game winning streak in Williamsport, Guishan took an early lead in the opening frame on an RBI single by Hu Yen-chun. However, Guishan failed to extend the margin as its players struggled at the plate, tallying only five
HISTORIC GAME: Taiwan, which have claimed the title 17 times, more than any other international team, have a chance to win it for the first time since 1996 Taiwan could not get much going at the plate on Saturday. However, the way starter Lai Cheng-ci was pitching, it did not matter. Lai struck out 12 batters and allowed just three hits in 5-1/3 innings as Taiwan beat Venezuela 4-1 to advance to the Little League World Series (LLWS) championship. “He’s the ace pitcher for the team and he shows leadership,” manager Lee Cheng-ta said through an interpreter. “He’s calm and he works hard, so every time we’ve had an important game he’s always the one to be carrying the responsibility.” Taiwan also managed only three hits, but collected eight walks and