Held to three scanty singles against stingy Japanese pitching, Taiwan proved no match for their neighbors from the north in a 1-0 shutout loss in the final game of the Japan Taiwan Baseball Challenge at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The loss not only gave Japan a clean sweep of the Taiwan national squad, but also exposed the sizable gap in the level of play between the two nations in the sport that both would readily claim as the national sport.
With their backs against the wall following back-to-back losses to Japan in the first two contests, Taiwan sent Kuo Chun-lin to the mound in search of an elusive win and the righty out of the Taiwan National University of Physical Education and Sport more than did his bit by keeping the potent Japan offense to a lone run on five hits over six innings, before being relieved at the start of the seventh.
Photo: CNA
Unfortunately for Kuo, it was one run too many as Taiwan’s batting lineup fell victims to an even more spectacular effort by the Japanese pitchers, who frustrated the hosts’ batters all night by holding them to a stunning none-for-10 with runners on base to keep the shutout intact.
After two scoreless innings in which Taiwan failed to cash in on three early walks and a single by Japanese starter Kazuki Mishima, the opportunistic Japan offense managed to plate a run off Kuo when Ryosuke Kikuchi singled with two outs and reached third after stealing second. He scored on an RBI single by Takero Okajima.
The 1-0 lead would be sufficient to deliver the victory as Mishima quickly regained his composure to shut down the Taiwan attack before three able relievers out of the visitors’ bullpen combined for five scoreless innings of one-hit ball to blank the hosts.
Taiwan had their best scoring chance after the second inning in the seventh, when Yang Dai-kang reached first on an error by the Japanese shortstop and took second on a sacrifice bunt on the ensuing play.
However, Lin Han and Chen Chun-hsiu came up empty against Japanese reliever Takahiro Matsuba to strand the runner and end the inning.
Matsuba was credited with the win for his three innings of hitless relief, while Kuo was charged with the loss, despite a solid outing on the mound.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS