It went down to the wire as the La New Bears clawed back an important 7-6 victory from the President Lions in Game 3 of the 2007 Taiwan Series finals in Tainan last night.
La New Bears were down two games to zero in the best-of-seven series, but started brightly in Game 3 with Chiang Chih-tsung hitting a homer at the top of the 2nd.
The Lions responded immediately with two hits, followed by Kao Chih-kang's drive that brought Kao Kuo-ching and Chen Lien-hung home.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The bottom of the 2nd augured poorly for the Bears, with three infielders communicating poorly to let a fly ball hit the ground without a glove touching it.
One of the three, the goateed Kit Pellow, had also deliberately charged the first-base runner, knocking him over, which prompted a furious conversation between the umpires and the Lions' coach.
After another batter was walked, the bases were loaded with two out, but Bears fans breathed a sigh of relief when Pan Wu-hsiung struck out.
Steadily improving, the Bears tied the Lions in the fourth with a hit by Yu Chin-te bringing Lin Chih-sheng home, then completed a double play to close the 5th inning.
The Bears then reclaimed the lead in the sixth with a hit by Huang Lung-yi bringing Chen Chin-feng home.
In the top of the seventh, the Bears extended the lead when Pellow made a hit with bases loaded; Shih Chih-wei made the score 4-2, with bases still loaded and one out. Hits by Chiang Chih-tsung and Yu Chin-te then brought three more runners home, blowing out the lead to 7-2.
The Lions pulled back a run in the seventh, but the Bears were still sitting pretty until the Lions' Liu Fu-hao hit a homer in the 8th to bring runners at 1st and 2nd home and fans to their feet.
The 9th inning petered out, however, and the Bears were likely very grateful.
Game 4 will be played tonight, also in Tainan.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
Spanish champions Barcelona opened their Spanish La Liga campaign on Saturday with an island cruise as they played almost an hour against nine men on their way to a 3-0 victory in RCD Mallorca. Barcelona’s second-half stroll did not please coach Hansi Flick. “They’re three important points, but I didn’t like the match,” he told broadcaster Movistar. “After going two goals up and following Mallorca’s two red cards, I think the team only gave 50 percent, and I didn’t like that,” he said. “Playing at 50 or 60 per cent is not possible against nine players.” Two of Barcelona’s Ballon
Manchester City signaled their intent to take back the English Premier League title as Erling Haaland struck twice in a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to begin their campaign. After four consecutive titles, City finished a distant third last season as Pep Guardiola’s men failed to win any trophy for the first time in eight years. New signings Tijjani Reijnders, who was the star of the show at Molineux, and Rayan Cherki were also on target to give Guardiola hope his side would be back in the title race this season. “We knew he is a top signing
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS