Kuo Dai-chi homered for the second straight game and Pan Wu-hsiung went deep twice off the La New Bears pitching staff to help the President Lions win Game 2 of the 2007 Taiwan Series by a 7-3 margin in Kaohsiung last night.
The win gave the Lions a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven annual Fall Classic, a pair of victories shy of taking the series.
"He [Kuo] wouldn't even have been playing if it hadn't been for the assistant coaches' insistence on how hot his bat had been of late. I'm glad we made the change," Lions manager Lu Wen-sheng said after the game.
It was Kuo's solo blast in the series opener that cracked a scoreless tie during the fourth in a game that he batted 2-for-3.
With their backs against the wall after the two home losses, the Bears travel to Tainan tomorrow to take on the Lions.
In Game 1 on Saturday Nelson Figueroa pitched seven effective innings and Yang Song-hsuen drove in three runs with a base-clearing double in the sixth as the Lions trounced the Bears 10-2.
The Lions continued their postseason dominance over opposition pitchers with 14 combined hits off six different Bears hurlers.
While the Lions hitters had another field day, their stingy pitching which allowed only six total runs over the three-game sweep against the Macoto Cobras in the Playoff Series, also held its grounds against the defending champs' big bats, thanks to the solid outing by Figueroa, who also won the series opener versus the Cobras to jumpstart the Lions in the right direction.
The right-hander allowed a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning eight and walking five to remain unbeaten at 6-0 for the Lions.
"It was a big win for us, especially after what happened last year," Lions skipper Lu Wen-sheng said after the game, referring to his clubs' four straight losses that gave the Bears their first-ever title.
The game began with both starters keeping it close over the first three innings in a scoreless tie with Figueroa and counterpart Huang Jung-chung allowing at least one opposing hitter on and managing to stay out of trouble with some clutch outs and help from their respective defense.
The Lions offense finally came through in the top of the fourth when Kuo Dai-chi led off the inning with a solo blast off Huang to get his team on the board before they batted around the order in a five-run sixth, highlighted by Yang's bases-clearing three-run double to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
Even though the Bears answered with two runs of their own off Figueroa, courtesy of a two-run homer by Kit Pellow in the bottom of the sixth, the Lions erupted for four more in the top of the ninth.
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
RSS