Taiwan fell to their second straight loss at the WBSC U-23 World Cup in Taipei yesterday, going down 2-1 against Mexico in eight innings.
The loss leaves Taiwan (2-2 in the super round) needing a win today and other results to go their way if they are to make tomorrow’s final.
Taiwan went ahead in the bottom of the first inning at the Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Shilin District.
Photo: CNA
With two out, Li I-wei singled up the middle and Tseng Song-en doubled to deep center to bring Li home.
Mexico tied it at 1-1 in the fifth inning.
There was a delay in the bottom of the fifth when Tseng Chen-tso reacted angrily to a non-call on a hit by pitch. He glared at the umpire, tapping his arm, and threw his bat away as Taiwan called for a video reply, which backed the batter’s claim, loading the bases.
However, Mexico starter Jordan Suarez Miranda struck out the next batter, ending the inning.
The hosts in the seventh inning again could not capitalize after loading the bases with two out, Wang Teng-yu striking out swinging.
In the extra inning — which start with runners on first and second — Mexico’s Ruben Zayed Salinas Hernandez singled through the left side to allow Jose Oliver Zepeda Hernandez to score.
In the bottom of the inning with Wang Teng-yu placed on first and Tseng Chen-tso on second, Li’s sacrifice bunt advanced both of the runners before Yang Jyun-siang’s fly-out to center field was not long enough for Tseng Chen-tso to make it home.
Chang Sheng-hao, the next batter up, struck out looking at the third pitch of his at-bat to pile the pressure on Taiwan in their game today against Australia.
In other super round games yesterday, Colombia beat Australia 8-6 and Japan edged South Korea 2-1.
The victory against previously unbeaten South Korea put Japan ahead of Taiwan in the race for the top two, who are to play in tomorrow’s final.
Japan scored their runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings. Hiroki Nakagawa singled with two out through the right side to score Yuto Hirano in the fourth, while in the fifth, a double by Jin Nakamura down the right-field line brought Ryuga Ihara home.
South Korea got two men on base with no outs against Japan relief pitcher Ryusei Gonda in the bottom of the seventh, but could only get one of them home.
The win went to Tetsuyuki Fujimura with his four innings allowing only one hit, while Gonda was credited with the save.
South Korea’s Kim Ki-jung — who allowed five hits and one run in four innings — took the loss.
In the placement round — in which all the games were played at Yunlin County’s Douliou Stadium — Cuba beat Venezuela 2-0, the Netherlands thrashed South Africa 17-3 and Puerto Rico downed Germany 3-1.
If teams are tied after all of the super round games are played, entry into the gold medal and bronze medal games would be decided according to who won the game between the tied teams, giving Taiwan an edge over Japan due to their 3-1 win in the opening round on Sunday, regulations on the WBSC’s Web site showed.
However, if the who-beat-who tiebreaker cannot separate teams tied on competition points — which might be the only way Taiwan can make the final — a Team’s Quality Balance (TQB) calculation would be applied, with ERAs, batting averages and ultimately a coin toss deciding placings if TQB fails.
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