Baseball World Cup Round 3, Chieti:
Taiwan – Puerto Rico 2-8
PUE 201 320 000 8 15 1 TPE 000 011 000 2 7 1
Ruben Gotay homered and drove in four to lead Puerto Rico to an 8-2 victory over Taiwan. The Major-League-proven second baseman went two-for-five. Thanks to the loss by Cuba against Team USA, the title game hopes for the squad remain alive. Jose Valentin also hit a homerun, as they scored in four of the first five innings to decide things early. Tai-Yung Kuo hit a solo shot for the Asian team.
Luis Atilano (W 3-0) collected win number three in the 2009 Baseball World Cup, allowing just two runs (1 ER) on seven hits, going the distance. He struck out four and threw 75 of his 103 pitches for strikes. Yen-Feng Lin (L 1-1) surrendered four hits, three runs (2 ER) and three bb in three innings to take the loss.
The attendance numbers in Chieti for the game on Thursday evening also were too low for such a high-caliber tournament, as only 250 people showed up. Puerto Rico will conclude the third round on Friday against Australia. Taiwan will battle with Venezuela.