South Korea beat out Taiwan 11-8, scoring three runs in extra-innings yesterday to take third place in Pool A of the World Baseball Classic at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, while consigning the visitors to last place in the group with three losses this week.
With the game deadlocked at 8-8 in the tenth inning, Taiwan elected to go with its designated closer Chen Hung-wen.
Korean catcher Yang Eui-Ji scored the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, then pinch-hitter Kim Tae-kyun tagged the losing pitcher Chen with a two-run homer for the hosts to take the lead.
Photo: AFP
Korean closer Oh Seung-hwan was pivotal to the thrilling win, as he got out of a jam in the ninth, and shut the door in the tenth inning to preserve the 11-8 triumph.
Taiwan now need to play qualification games in the next WBC tournament.
Both teams crashed out of the WBC on previous days, when Taiwan and South Korea lost to the Netherlands and Israel.
South Korea jumped out an early six-run lead by the top of second inning against Taiwan’s second pitcher Kuo Chun-lin and looked to have knocked out the visitors for good.
After getting a run in the opening frame, the hosts blew the game wide open with key runs batted in by Seo Geon-chang, Lee Yong-kyu and Son Ah-seop, along with a sacrifice fly by Min Byung-hun to score five runs to get ahead 6-0.
Taiwan replied in the bottom half of the inning, to open the account by first baseman Lin Yi-chuan scoring on a fielder’s choice, then Hu-Chin-lung delivered a hit to push two runners home, cutting the deficit to 6-3.
In the fourth inning, both teams’ fired-up batters continued the assault, with both sides grabbing two runs to make it 8-5.
Taiwan chased South Korea all the way, and got two runs on two RBI-singles to close the gap at 8-6 in the sixth frame.
Shortstop Chen Yung-chi singled to drive in a run to tie up the game at 8-8 in the seventh inning.
Israel, dubbed the Cinderella team, continued their amazing run with a 4-2 win over the Netherlands to top Pool A at the conclusion of first-round competition, with “Dutch Oranje” in second on two wins and one loss.
Jason Marquis, a 15-year veteran pitcher in US Major League Baseball who retired from the Cincinnati Reds in 2005, pocketed the win for his starting assignment with only one inning.
His teammates gave him all the support needed by plating three runs in the opening frame, and sent Israel on their way to take their third consecutive win.
In that early assault, Israel batters Nate Freiman, Zach Borenstein and Ryan Lavarnway each knocked in a run with men on bases to rattle starting pitcher Rob Cordemans, who played in Taiwan’s pro league with the Uni-President Lions in 2007.
The Netherlands replied with a run, when outfielder Randolph Oduber came home on a fielder’s choice in the third inning.
Then in the sixth frame, Israel added an insurance run when Borenstein grounded into a double play, but Ty Kelly scored from third base.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive