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.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS