Mexico defeated Taiwan 9-5 Sunday afternoon in Taichung in the 2007 IBAF World Cup, tagging Taiwan’s pitchers for 14 hits, including two home runs. Left Handed cleanup hitter Balthazar Lopez, Albino Contreras, and Mexican league star Efren Espinoza each went deep for the Mexican team, who roughed up Seibu Lions starting pitcher Hsu Ming -Jie for four runs over 5 innings. Pitcher Ni Fu-De took the loss for Taiwan, giving up two runs in just two thirds of an inning.

The game escalated into a bean-ball fest, with four batters hit during the game, three of them by the Taiwanese team. Tempers flared in the seventh inning in the top of the seventh inning after Espinoza was beaned by pitcher Chen Yu-Jie. Both dugouts cleared but cooler heads prevailed.

Mexican pitcher Jose Cobos got the win in relief of Jose Rodriguez, who failed to pitch the minimum five innings needed to pick up the victory. Cobos pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out five despite struggling with control and walking three batters.

Down 9-3, Taiwan mounted a late inning rally behind a home run from slugger Lin Zi-Sen (un-ironically billed as the Taiwanese A-Rod in the program guide, although we’re not sure if it’s for having purple lips, liking buff she-male type women, or his onfield performance) and a series of singles from the middle of Taiwan’s order that narrowed the gap to 9-3, but team Mexico closer — Jimenez got Hsieh Jia-Xian to strike out to end the game with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.

Note: Due to the scoreboard operator incorrectly entering the names of Mexican players into the scorebord, there may be inaccuracies in Team Mexico’s player names. Any readers with knowledge of Team Mexico’s roster are invited to write in with corrections.

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Jackson Notes: 5′8 Taiwanese starter Huang Zhi Luong, out of high school, struggled to maintain composure in a dreadful outing, disappointing since I saw him stymie Japan in the high school tournament earlier this year in Taichung.…Few pitchers exceeded 87-88 MPH on the radar gun during the game….Mexican LH Slugger Balthazar Lopez showed flashes of power from the left hand side but seemed virtually clueless against curveballs from LH pitchers.