After defeating Panama with a royal thrashing, Cuba earned its second victory in the World Baseball Classic when Chinese Taipei defeated Italy 11-7 at the end of the third day of pool A in Taichung.
The above seems like a tongue twister, but it is not. As well as winning, Cuba needs a series of results among the other contenders in its bracket to aspire to qualify directly for the second round of the tournament, and one of the most important was the victory of the Asians against the Europeans, in order to that these last ones did not separate definitively in the table of positions.
Taipei, under pressure after losing in their debut with Panama, fulfilled the challenge and knocked down the azure, whose pitching fell apart in the face of a relentless offense. Three home runs were hit by the hosts, who only went scoreless in two of the eight innings they had.
Catcher Kungkuan Giljegiljaw (home run and three RBIs), Chieh-Hsien Chen (three hits, double and three runs) and Yu Chang (double, three runs and two RBIs) led Taipei’s attack, which had eight hits in 17 at-bats with men in scoring position.
After holding off the Cuban batch in their debut, the Italian pitchers utterly blew up, allowing 16 hits and walking four for free. For their part, Taipei’s top three pitchers also faced multiple difficulties in the first half of the challenge, but then relievers Yu-Hsun Chen, Yen-Ching Lu and Chia-Hao Sung closed out 4.1 scoreless innings with just three hits. in his account.
Chinese Taipei’s victory revives their chances of advancing to the second round, although to do so they need to also defeat the Netherlands and Cuba. On the other hand, this outcome gives life to the Antilleans, who will now wait for more adverse results from Italy and a victory against Taipei to sneak into the eight greats of the World Baseball Classic for the fifth consecutive time.
South Korea falls into the ambush of the samurai
A masterful night from outfielder Masataka Yoshida gave Japan its second victory in the World Classic. The Japanese beat South Korea 13-4 with an outfielder, recently signed by the Boston Red Sox, who had three hits and drove in five runs.
Yoshida led an offense that also featured Kensuke Kondoh (double, homer, three runs and as many RBIs) and the phenomenon Shohei Ohtani (double, two runs and an RBI), who had already impressed in the opening day by shining from the mound and with the bat.
Japan started behind on Korean catcher Euiji Yang’s two-run home run in the third inning against star starter Yu Darvish, but they reacted quickly and in that inning they produced four runs to turn the score around.
From then on, the samurai mercilessly beat the Korean pitchers, who walked eight and allowed 13 hits, including four extra-base hits. From the mound, four Japanese relievers were in charge of retiring the last six innings with seven strikeouts, no walks, three hits and only one run allowed.
This is the second loss in a row for the Korean squad, which lost in the opener against Australia with a total collapse of its relievers in the final third of the game. The aussies they scored six runs between the seventh and eighth innings thanks to clutch home runs by Robbie Glendinning and Robbie Perkins.
The Koreans are on the verge of their third consecutive first-round elimination from the World Classic, after going home early in 2013 and 2017. This was an unthinkable scenario after the first two editions of the tournament, in which Korea rose twice to the podium, with a final played in 2009.
Czech Republic writes its history in the World Classic
The Czech Republic played for the first time in the World Baseball Classic and left its mark on history. In the majestic Tokyo Dome, the European roster defeated China with a four-run comeback in the ninth inning that included a game-changing home run by first baseman Martin Muzik.
The Czechs were three outs from losing to the Asians, but they erased a slim 5-4 lead with a ferocious attack in the top of the ninth. After one out, Martin Zervenka walked, Matej Mensik doubled and Muzik unleashed the madness with a 367-foot drive to left field.
With that shot they turned the score around, and then added another run on Petr Zyma’s double and Filip Smola’s RBI single that left the final score at 8-4.
This is a historic achievement for baseball in the Czech Republic, which is making its debut in a top-flight event like the Classic. For China, the defeat is a bad omen, since the Europeans were the most affordable rival in a bracket in which they still have to face South Korea and Australia.
The Asians have had a lot of problems with their pitching, which has given away an impressive 23 walks! in just two matches. Precisely, in the opening against Japan they set a new record of 16 walks in a World Classic game, destroying Australia’s previous mark (13 vs. Venezuela in 2006).
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