Former Seibu Lion Wu Nien-ting kept Taiwan’s World Baseball Classic dream alive by throwing out the potential tying run from first base in the 10th inning in their 5-4 Pool C victory Sunday over South Korea at Tokyo Dome in front of a large supportive crowd.
In a game with drama writ large, Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien scored the decisive run as a pinch runner in his first action since a pitch fractured his hand Thursday against Australia. Wu’s defense then helped Taiwan improve to 2-2 and at least give the team a chance to qualify for the knockout round in Miami in case of a three-way tie for second.
Twenty-two-year-old Kim Do Young, the Korea Baseball Organization’s 2024 MVP, drove in three runs for South Korea (1-2), which came from behind three times and held the lead briefly on Kim’s two-run sixth-inning homer, only for Taiwan to even things up once again.
“It was the most exciting baseball game I’ve ever played in,” said Taiwan center fielder Stuart Fairchild, whose second homer in two days, another well-traveled Major League Baseball players, Dane Dunning, gave Taiwan a 4-3 lead before Kim retied it in the bottom of the eighth.
Ryu Hyun Jin, seventeen days shy of his 39th birthday and appearing in his first WBC game since a brief relief stint in the 2009 final against Japan, started for South Korea. He allowed a second-inning solo homer to Chang Yu.
Nippon Ham Fighters right-hander Gu Lin Ruei Yang started for Taiwan and left a 1-0 game with two on and no outs in the fifth, and was charged with allowing the tying run after some mighty relief work by Lin Wei-en, who was handed a brief lead before surrendering Kim’s homer.
Sun Li-yei, another Fighters right-hander, was unable to finish off the bottom of the Koreans’ order in the eighth. After two impressive strikeouts, Sun walked the Dodgers’ Kim Hye Seong, who sprinted around the basepaths on Kim’s game-tying double.
With the tie-breaker rule in effect, the largely pro-Taiwan crowd of 40,584, came to life as Chen pinch ran at second. The captain dove safely into third on a sacrifice and scored when Chiang Kun-yu laid down a perfect safety squeeze.
“I am thankful to all my teammates and our coaches for their support during my absence,” Chen said. “The victory brought tears to my eyes. I think from today, Tokyo Dome became a home park for us.”
