Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) Taiwan failed to defend its Asian Games baseball title Friday night when it was overpowered by South Korea's relentless attack and power pitching in the 2010 games' baseball final.
Taiwan's pitchers were mercilessly punished by the Koreans in the 9-3 loss, giving up 17 hits and three home runs, including two by Kang Jung-ho.
South Korea, which won its third Asian Games baseball gold after previous titles in 1998 and 2002, was also proficient on the mound, with its pitchers striking out 15 Taiwanese batters.
Taiwan's offense was on and off against South Korean starter Ryu Hyun-jin and reliever Yoon Suk-min, who limited Taiwan to eight hits.
South Korea broke the game open in the third inning. Taking advantage of inexperienced amateur left-hander Chen Kuan-yu, it rallied for four runs, including one on a solo home run by Lee Dao-ho and two others on a two-run homer by Kang, to jump to a 6-1 lead.
Taiwan answered in the bottom of the fourth, when Chang Tai-shan led off with a double and scored on Hu Chin-lung's RBI single. Chen Chun-hsiu later rushed home for the second run of the inning on a Lin Che-hsuan grounder to cut the deficit to 6-3.
But that was as close as Taiwan could get in its third straight Asian Games final appearance. South Korea added another run in the seventh, and Kang blasted his second two-run shot of the game in the ninth off Huang Chih-lung.
Taiwan won its second silver in Asian Games history after finishing as the runner-up in 2002. It won bronze in 1994 and 1998.
Japan defeated host China 6-2 in the bronze medal game. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls