It was shutout day at the Intercontinental Cup with 3 of the 4 games resulting in shutouts. Cuba, Japan, and Taiwan all pitched shutouts while Italy punched its ticket to the medal round with a victory over Nicaragua.
Italy 5, Nicaragua 2
Italy won in dramatic fashion on Monday afternoon as Juan Carlos Infante crushed a walk off 3-run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th to lead Italy to victory over Nicaragua at Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung City. RBI doubles by Alex Sambucci and Jairo Ramos Gizzi put Italy on top early, but Nicaragua battled back to tie the game with Carlos Urbin Reyas’ RBI single in the top of the 8th inning.
The tie wouldn’t last long. Infante came up with 2 men on and launched the 1-0 pitched over the right field fence to end the game in dramatic fashion. Tiago Da Silva pitched a strong game for Italy going 6.2 inning allowing only 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. Nicaragua starter Igna Pena Centeno pitched good as well going 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks, but neither factored into the decision.
Japan 15, Thailand 0
Japan routed Thailand in 5 innings pounding out 15 hits along the way. However, the big stat of the day was from the pitchers mound where Japan starter Shoki Kasahara went all 5 innings not allowing a hit. He allowed 2 walks and struck out 5 batters along the way. Takahiro Iwamoto led the way offensively going 3-for-3 with a home run, a triple, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.
Hong Kong 0, Taiwan 10
Taiwan shut out Hong Kong in a 7 inning game as the host country won its 3rd game in 3 days. Chen-Hua Lin went the distance allowing only 2 hits along the way to pick up the victory. Chun-Hsiu Chen went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, 2 doubles, and a triple. Chih-Sheng Lin also chipped in with 3 hits, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and 2 triples. In total Taiwan pounded out 17 hits along the way.
Cuba 3, South Korea 0
Cuba handed South Korea its 2nd loss in 3 games on Monday. Norge Vera went 6 strong innings allowing only 3 hits to earn the victory while Yulieski Gonzalez pitched the final 3 frames to earn the save. Alfredo Despaigne led the way offensively going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Yulieski Gourriel also pitched in with 3 hits, a home run, 2 RBIs, and a run scored. Next up for Cuba will be Taiwan on Tuesday.
Standings:
Group A:
- Taiwan 3-0
- Cuba 2-0
- South Korea 1-2
- Czech Republic 0-2
- Hong Kong 0-2
Group B:
- Japan 2-0
- Netherlands 2-0
- Italy 2-1
- Thailand 0-2
- Nicaragua 0-3
Schedule Day 4:
- Hong Kong – Czech Republic
- Thailand – Nicaragua
- Netherlands – Japan
- Taiwan – Cuba
Photo courtesy of Ezio Ratti/FIBS
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This post was written by
Eric Bynum is Managing Editor here at Baseball de World and an ESL teacher in South Korea. He has played and/or written about baseball for the past 30 years and is an avid Atlanta Braves fan. Eric also writes for Braves Baseball World and for Call to the Pen.
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