Taiwan scored a 11-7 victory over Italy in their World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool A battle last night.
The hosts got on the scoreboard first at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium when former Boston Red Sox player Lin Tzu-wei (林子偉) belted a solo homer off Italy starting pitcher Ryan Castellani over the right-field wall in the opening frame.
In the top of the second, Italy got consecutive hits against Taiwan starter Chiang Shao-ching (江少慶) to put men at the corners.
Photo: CNA
Italy put on a squeeze bunt by Nicky Lopez, pushing home the runner from third base and the next batter, Ben DeLuzio, ripped one to deep left field for an RBI triple, putting Italy ahead 2-1.
Taiwan replied with an RBI single by Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲).
Pitch count limits forced both teams to replace their starters in the third, with Chiang giving way to lefty Wang Wei-chung (王維中) and Castellani replaced by former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joe Biagini.
Photo: EPA
Taiwan's batters turned on the heat, getting four hits off Biagini to chalk up two more runs and adding another against Stephen Woods Jr to make it 5-2 in the bottom of the third frame.
However, Wang also ran into trouble, with Italy rallying on RBI hits by Lopez, Miles Mastrobuoni and Sal Frelik to grab a 6-5 lead.
Italy's standout player Lopez got his third RBI of the game against Taiwan's fourth pitcher, Chen Yu-hsun (陳禹勳), padding their lead at 7-5 in the fifth inning.
Yu Chang (張育成) smashed a two-run homer in the sixth inning to make it 7-7 and Taiwan went ahead for good in the eighth after pinch-hitter Fan Kuo-cheng (范國宸) slapped a bouncer for an infield single, sending a runner home from third base.
The hosts cranked up the firepower for some late-innings heroics. Taiwan had two runners on through a walk and a single in the eighth when catcher Giljegiljaw Kungkuan drilled a shot over the center-field wall for a three-run homer, sparking celebrations in the packed stands.
Closer Sung Chia-hao (宋家豪), a member of Japan's Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, got two ground-outs before Italy's Brett Sullivan got on base with a single.
However, Sung struck out Robel Garcia for the final out to preserve the 11-7 lead and nailed down a hard-fought win.
In the earlier Pool A game at the Taichung Stadium, Cuba routed Panama 13-4.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat