2010 Asian Games

The 2010 Asian Games were the fifth Asian Games to include baseball. They were held in Guangzhou, China from November 12 through November 27, 2010.

Games[edit]

Japan 18, Thailand 0. Kota Suda and three relievers team on a five-inning no-hitter of Thailand in a mercy rule game. 14 Japanese batters drive in at least one run in the rout, while Thai starter Kamolphan Kanjanavisut gives up 10 in the first inning alone. CF Mitsugu Kitamichi scores four and drives in two, reaching base all four times up.

Pakistan 5, Hong Kong 3. Hong Kong leads 3-2 going into the 9th but Pakistan rallies for the win. 1B Arshad Khan drives in 3 for Pakistan and falls a homer shy of the cycle. 2B Ching-Nam Nau goes 3 for 3 with a run for the losers, but 3B-RF Chun-Yeung Wu makes three errors.

South Korea 6, Chinese Taipei 1. Taiwan didn't defend its title hopes on a good note, as RF Shin-soo Choo hit two two-run bombs off Yi-Hao Lin in the first three innings. 2B Keun-woo Jeong also had a big day (3 for 3, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI) while Hyun-jin Ryu tossed a gem.

People's Republic of China 15, Mongolia 0. The hosts cruise to an opening win behind the one-hit pitching of Jiangang Lu and Shi Dong. C Munkhsaikhan Chultem has Mongolia's lone hit. 2B Fenglian Hou (2 for 3, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI) and SS Delong Jia (1 for 1, BB, 3 RBI) lead China's offense.

Chinese Taipei 11, Pakistan 1. In the first match ever between a Taiwanese and Pakistani team, Taiwan won handily, as anticipated. 2B Yung-Chi Chen tripled, homered, scored twice and drove home two, while Yi-Chieh Hsiao allowed one hit and no runs in four innings. Wei-Lun Pan got the win in relief.

South Korea 15, Hong Kong 0. A balanced Korean onslaught features ten different players scoring in the third mercy-rule rout of the day. SS Jung-ho Kang homers and Tae-hoon Im and Hyeon-jong Yang team up on a 6-inning, 3-hit shutout.

Chinese Taipei 16, Hong Kong 0. Taiwan moved into round two while Hong Kong went home winless. Chi-Kam Chiu walked the first three batters of the game, a poor start to things. SS Chin-Lung Hu scored four times and RF Chien-Ming Chang was 1 for 1 with 3 walks, 3 runs and 3 RBI. 3B Yi-Chuan Lin hit a 2-run homer, while Ying-Chieh Lin turned in a good start on the hill.

Thailand 25, Mongolia 0. For a Thai team that had the worst loss in Baseball World Cup history back in 2007, redemption was on hand with the biggest win of these Games yet. Kamolphan Kanjanavisut and Siraphop Nadee team on a two-hit shutout in the five-inning mercy rule game, while SS-C Somsak Sarnwit (2 2B, HR, 4 R, 6 RBI) and 1B Nattapong Sampahangsit (4 for 4, 3 R, 5 RBI) lead the offense.

Japan 3, People's Republic of China 0. China and Japan battle evenly for a fine seven-inning pitching duel, with starters Ziliang Li and Daiki Enokida both throwing goose eggs. In the bottom of the 8th, Japan finally scores off the hosts, when DH Keiji Ikebe drives in CF Mitsugu Kitamichi. RF Toshiyuki Hayashi clubs a 2-run homer to put Japan up by the final 3-0 margin.

South Korea 17, Pakistan 0. LF-1B Hyun-soo Kim (4 for 5, 4 RBI) and DH Dae-ho Lee (3 for 4, 3 RBI) lead a potent Korean offense, while Myung-sung Kim and three relievers combine on a two-hit shutout.

Japan 24, Mongolia 0. Yusuke Ishida and Hirofumi Yamanaka combine on a 5-inning, mercy rule perfect game, striking out 14 of 15 batters. Japan scores 15 runs in the second and four Japanese hitters drive in four. #9 hitter/3B Sho Ueno singled, doubled, tripled, walked, scored four and drove in four.

People's Republic of China 7, Thailand 0. In the third shutout of the day, Tao Bu and two relievers team up on a five-hitter, the "worst" pitching effort by any of today's three winning teams. Former Mariners farmhand Chao Wang goes 2 for 4 with 3 RBI for China.

Semifinals: Chinese Taipei 4, Japan 3. Taiwan scores twice off Japanese veteran Tsugio Abe in the 4th and again off Manabu Mima in the 6th on a Chih-Sheng Lin homer. In the meantime, Chien-Fu Yang throws shutout ball for six and Yao-Hsun Yang relieves well. In the bottom of the 9th, though, the Japanese amateurs rally. DH Keiji Ikebe and 1B Yasuyuki Saigo both reach off Yao-Hsun Yang, then RF Toshiyuki Hayashi homered to tie it. In the 10th, 2B Yung-Chi Chen drove in a run off Atsushi Kobayashi to close up the contest.

Semifinals: South Korea 7, People's Republic of China 1. Shin-soo Choo puts on a show, drawing walks three times, scoring three runs and homering in his lone at-bat. Hyeon-jong Yang allows one run in six innings for the win, while Jiangang Lu takes the loss for the host nation.

Gold Medal Game: South Korea 9, Chinese Taipei 3. South Korea wins their third Gold in five Asiads and in the process wins military exemption for all the players on the squad who had not yet earned exemption (in the 2008 Olympics Gold Medal run) or who had completed their service, including RF Shin-soo Choo of the Indians. Choo drove in 2B Keun-woo Jeong with a first-inning run against Wei-Lun Pan, but Taiwan tied it in the bottom of the inning against Hyun-jin Ryu. Korea built the lead to 6-1 by the third with homers by DH Dae-ho Lee and 3B Jung-ho Kang (a 2-run shot). Ryu gave up two more in the 4th but Suk-min Yoon relieved and blanked Taiwan for the next five innings to lock it up for Korea. Kang added another 2-run homer and finished with 5 RBI; LF Hyun-soo Kim, Kang and Jeong each got three hits as Korea banged out 17 in the rout.

Bronze Medal Game: Japan 6, People's Republic of China 2. Kota Suda gets the win and three relievers shut out China for the final four innings. For Japan, they pounce on starter Pei Wang for five runs in the first and never need to look back. C Ryo Saeki (2 RBI, 2 for 4), 2B Kenichi Yokoyama (R, 2 RBI), RF Toshiyuki Hayashi (3 BB, R) and 3B Yuichi Tabata (2 for 3, R) lead Japan's offense. Both of China's RBI come from leadoff man and CF Xiao Cui.