Taiwan has won the World Port Tournament for the second time. In 2011, the Taiwanese baseball players needed an extension to Cuba in the final. Today, in Rotterdam, the decision reached in the final against Japan after extra innings. In that, Taiwan scored a winning goal after a crucial error: 3-2.
Third baseman Hsin Chuan Wang (3 out of 4 hits) became the big man at Taiwan. He scored all points in the second and fourth inning, when he had sent his team-mate Yi Hung Chen over the homeplate.
But his main single hit was followed in the tenth inning. Even after that, Japan had scored the equalizer after seven innings without runs, which forced an extension. For this reason, the Japanese baseball players had left the necessary opportunities unused. No less than sixteen runners left Japan on the bases, including eleven in scoring positions and even five in third.
Crucial field error
After Taiwan held his Japanese opponent in the tenth inning from scoring, the team benefited in the second half of the tenth inning of a crucial field error. With one man out and runners on the first and second base leftfielder Yder Yudai Nakanishi hit a high ball. Hsin Chuan Wang flawed the fault mercilessly and hit three pitches later with his walk-off single, after three hours and fourty eight minutes to play the winning run.
For the national team of Japan, second place is the best result ever at the World Port Tournament. In earlier editions (2007, 2009 and 2015), Japan finished fifth and twice in fourth place. Until the final, the Japanese students from the Kansai Big Six Baseball League were the most successful team this tournament. They won five of their seven games. Taiwan became the second team in Rotterdam today with five wins. The selection of baseball players from Taiwan’s industrial teams stood for the third time in the final and became the second time in the Neptunus Familystadium with a victory in the renewal winner of the World Port Tournament Baseball.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E JAPAN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 13 1 TAIWAN 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 11 1