It wasn’t just the seven minor leaguers. South Korea was overwhelmed and crushed by the collective power of Taiwanese baseball.

Once again, Korea has been swept by Chinese Taipei in an international tournament. The South Korean baseball team, led by Ryu Jung-il, lost 0-4 against Chinese Taipei in the second game of Group B at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Feb. 2.

South Korea started the 2003 Asian Baseball Confederation Championship in Sapporo and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha with losses to Chinese Taipei. Korea will be hoping for a repeat of the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, where they won the title despite losing to Chinese Taipei. The humiliation of losing three consecutive international matches against Chinese Taipei, including the Jakarta-Palembang Games and the Premier 12, was compounded.

At the center of the Korean defeat was Lin Yumin (Double-A Arizona), who had been a pre-tournament favorite. Born in 2003, the 20-year-old pitcher’s blue-hot stuff dominated the Korean lineup. Only Yoon Dong-hee and Choi Ji-hoon have ever hit against him. From his diminutive height of 1.77 meters, Lin used a 150-plus-kilometer fastball to torch Korean batters.

Closer Liu Zhulong (24-Boston Double-A) and leadoff man Chung Zheng-zer (22-Pittsburgh Double-A) also performed well. The Koreans had prepared for the Taiwanese minor leaguers by watching Lin Yi-min’s videos throughout the team’s training sessions, but they were better than expected.

But even that excuse pales in comparison to the performance of the Taiwanese big hitters. On this day, the Chinese Taipei outplayed Korea in every aspect of the batting order. Even their fight on the ground was better than Korea’s, which was consistently lethargic.

Coach Ryu Joong-il started Moon Dong-ju and kept Park Se-woong and Park Young-hyun on the bench, hoping for a big game.

Taiwan’s top slugger, Lin An-kou (26, Tung-Yi), was not afraid of the Korean pitchers’ fastballs. He took some of the hardest swings of the game.

In the first inning, Moon was still recovering from his leadoff double, and he made the most of it by striking out Lin-Li at first and third. Lin Ankou then gave him a chance, but he hit a triple to right-center field. Lin-Anker started the rally in the third inning with a single to third baseman Noh Si-hwan.메이저사이트

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lin Zhihao (21, Tung-Yi) hit a two-run wedge to right-center off the KBO’s best closer, Ko Woo-Seok. Between Lin Yumin and Liu Zhihlong, Koo Lin-Lu-yang (23-Tung-Yi) cooked Korean batters with his hard-hitting fastball. Noh Si-hwan hit a two-run double off the center field fence, but the Koreans were stuck with two strikeouts.

After the game, head coach Ryu Jung-il acknowledged this reality. “The opposing pitcher threw really well. His fastball was over 150 kilometers and his changeup was fast, so we couldn’t keep up with him,” and “I think the Taiwanese players have been studying well in the minor leagues,” he said. “In the past, Taiwanese batters would swing at the changeup, but today they weren’t fooled. Our defense was also weak, but today it was solid,” he sighed.