Taipei:Taiwan's men's baseball team advanced to the four-team super round at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after defeating Hong Kong 11-0 in a game shortened to seven innings under the mercy rule.
According to Focus Taiwan, the victory secured Taiwan a 2-1 record and second place in Group B, ensuring its place in the super round alongside Group B winner South Korea. In this round, they will compete against Group A's top two finishers, Japan and China, with medals at stake.
Taiwan held a 2-0 lead through five innings, aided by a solo home run from Chen Hsiao-yun, before widening the gap with a five-run fifth inning. This decisive inning featured two hit-by-pitches, a fielding error, an RBI double by Liu Ji-hong, and a three-run double by Yang Po-hsiang, extending their lead to 7-0.
Competing under the name Chinese Taipei, Taiwan added four more runs in the sixth inning with back-to-back home runs: a three-run homer by Liu Ji-hong and a solo homer by Chen Min-shih.
Taiwan's starting pitcher, Kuo Tzu-chuan, dominated by throwing six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and striking out ten Hong Kong batters. Reliever Kuo Ting-hung took over in the seventh inning, retiring the final three Hong Kong batters before the game concluded early under the mercy rule.
Historically, Taiwan has won two gold medals in Asian Games baseball, most recently in 2006, along with four silvers and three bronzes. South Korea leads the all-time gold medal standings with six, followed by Taiwan with two and Japan with one.
