Taiwan earn their first World Cup victory

Taiwan pulled off a near-mission impossible against favored Puerto Rico, topping the Caribbean baseball powerhouse by a 3-1 margin in Group A play at the Remon Cantera Stadium in Aguadulce, Panama on Sunday as they looked to close out this year’s IBAF Baseball World Cup campaign on a high.
The victory not only put Taiwan in the win column for the first time in the tournament, but most likely avoided a last-place finish in Group A with the suspended contest against winless Greece nullified by the game officials on Sunday and a replacement game between the two teams scheduled for today, which Taiwan are expected to win.
Starter Chen Kien-yu (minor leaguer for Japan’s Yokohama Bay Stars) dominated Puerto Rico over 5-2/3 innings of play, taking a no-hitter two outs into the fifth, before giving up Puerto Rico’s lone run of the game in the sixth en route to his first win of the competition.
“After [Puerto Rico] fell behind, I knew the hitters would be more aggressive and swing the bats, so I went with mostly breaking balls away from them to get them to swing at bad pitches,” Chen said after the game.
His success carried over to Taiwan’s hitters, who for the first time in four games (not counting the rain-shortened match against Greece) played to their potential, with slugger Yang Kuan-wei going deep against Puerto Rico starter Ivan Maldonado (former minor leaguer for the New York Mets) in the top of the second for a two-run shot that gave his team a rare 2-0 lead.
Hsiao Po-ting then came through on an RBI single with runner on second that made it 3-0 in the fifth.
“This is more like the offense that dominated in the World Port Tournament and the World Baseball Challenge, the one I am used to,” Taiwan head coach Chen Wei-cheng said after the game.
Even though his team managed only three runs in the game, it was by far their best offensive performance since the loss to Panama on Oct. 3, with Taiwan grinding out seven hits compared with Puerto Rico’s three.
Aside from Chen Kuan-yu’s stellar start, Taiwan’s bullpen also held its ground, with Lo Ching-lung (former minor leaguer for the Colorado Rockies) and Yang Yao-hsun (Japan’s Softbank Hawks) combining for 3-1/3 innings of one-hit relief to shut down a Puerto Rico attack that had averaged nearly five runs per game in their six previous outings.
Next up for Taiwan will be a Greece lineup that fell 7-0 behind after two innings of play in the nullified game between the two teams on Friday, with the opening pitch scheduled for 11am at the Remon Cantera Stadium in Aguadulce, Panama.
Sunday’s other results:
‧ Canada 6, US 1
‧ Netherlands 7, Panama 3
‧ Japan 9, Greece 4
‧ Germany 6, Australia 9
‧ S Korea 5, Dominican Rep 4 (10)
‧ Italy 6, Venezuela 7 (10)
‧ Cuba 6, Nicaragua 0

source: http://taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2011/10/11/2003515445