Panama achieved a historic victory in its participation in the World Baseball Classic, debuting in the 2023 edition with a 12-5 victory over Taiwan in a match corresponding to group A of the international tournament, whose venue is Taichung, Taiwan.
Jonathan Araúz extends Panamas’s lead with a 2-run base knock in the 6th. #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/x5acbpxIf2
World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 8, 2023
It is Panama’s first victory in a World Classic. He had zero wins and five losses (three were in the 2006 edition and two in 2009). In 2006, they lost 2-1 to Puerto Rico; 8-6 against Cuba; and 10-0 against the Netherlands. In 2009 they lost 7-0 to Puerto Rico and 9-0 to the Dominican Republic.
In addition, Panama broke a losing streak of 30 consecutive episodes without scoring runs in their participation in this competition.
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It was in the fourth episode when Panama opened the board with a cluster of five runs to break a tie that had zero runs and take an advantage that they did not lose for the rest of the match.
The Panamanian team clinched the game in the top of the sixth inning with six more runs and added another in the seventh.
It should be noted that the Isthmus team was close to achieving a victory by bulking runs, but the Taiwanese team responded with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to prevent the game from ending early.
It was a good game for Panama, in which the offense exploded, the pitching did its job and the defense was extraordinary.
Panama takes the lead with a 5-run 4th inning. #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/oUYYFhc9AV
World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 8, 2023
Panama had 14 hits and the defense played without errors. For its part, Taiwan had 13 hits and made a mistake on defense.
The winning pitcher was Randall Delgado from Santeria, second of six pitchers used by Panama. Delgado worked 2.2 innings, allowed one run, five hits, didn’t walk and struck out three.
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The match was opened by the right-hander Humberto Mejía, he was relieved by Delgado and followed by Severino González, Wilfredo Pereira, Matt Hardy and Justin Lawrence.
Best Offensive for Panama Allen Córdoba 4-1 (two runs scored), Jonathan Araúz 6-2 (one run scored and three RBIs), Christian Bethancourt 4-2 (one run scored and one RBI), Rubén Tejada 4-2 (one run scored and one RBI), Erasmo Caballero 3-1 (one run scored and two RBIs), Luis Castillo 4-2 (one run scored and one RBI), José caballero 4-1 (two runs scored and one RBI) and Jahdiel Santamaría 3-2 (two runs scored and two RBIs)
Panama’s second game in the World Classic will be against the Netherlands today Wednesday at 11 pm (Panama time), 12 noon on Thursday in Taiwan. The Netherlands beat Cuba 4-2 in their first game.
