[Asian Games] S. Korea routs Chinese Taipei to reach baseball semifinals

Published : Sept 24, 2014 - 22:21 Updated : Sept 24, 2014 - 22:22

Defending champ South Korea clobbered Chinese Taipei 10-0 in their baseball clash on Wednesday at the Asian Games on Wednesday, powered by three home runs early in the rout to book a spot in the semifinals.

   South Korea scored seven runs in the first and two more in the second at Munhak Baseball Stadium in the Asiad host city, and then scored the 10th run in the bottom of the eighth as the Group B game ended on a mercy rule.

   Under a pre-set rule, the games are called when a team is up by at least 15 runs after five innings or 10 runs after the seventh inning or later.

   South Korea will next face Hong Kong on Thursday to wrap up the group stage. It will then take on the runner-up from Group B in the semis. The first South Korean batters in the game each got a hit, the last being a two-run double by Kim Hyun-soo.

   After cleanup Park Byung-ho reached on an error, Kang Jung-ho launched a three-run bomb to left center to make it 5-0.

   The homer chased the right-handed starter Wang Yao Lin from the game. Wang faced five hitters and gave up five runs, four of them earned, on four hits without recording an out.

   Oh Jae-won, the No. 9 hitter, blew the game wide open with a two-run jack to right off the new pitcher, Cheng Kai Wen.

   Park Byung-ho, who leads the top domestic league, Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), with 48 homers this year, joined the fray with a towering solo shot over the center field wall in the second inning. Kang Min-ho's sacrifice fly gave the host a 9-0 advantage.

   South Korean starter Yang Hyeon-jong tossed four shutout innings, striking out seven and holding Chinese Taipei to two hits.

   Three relief pitchers kept the opponents at bay the rest of the night.

   Chinese Taipei threatened to foil South Korea's shutout bid in the top of the eighth, putting two men on with one out. South Korean reliever An Ji-man escaped the jam by striking out Chen Pin

Chieh and getting Lin Han to ground out into a fielder's choice.

   Lee Jae-won then ended the game with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth.

   South Korea outhit Chinese Taipei 14-6.

   On a brighter note for the losers, Chinese Taipei's third pitcher, left-hander Chen Kuan Yu, quieted the South Korean bats over 4 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. (Yonhap)