Playing back on home turf didn't help the Uni-President Lions as they fizzled to a 6-5 loss to a resurgent La New Bears outfit in Game 6 of the 2007 Taiwan Series baseball finals at the Chengching Lake stadium in Kaohsiung County yesterday.
The two sides will meet in the decider tonight at the Chengching Lake stadium at 5pm.
For several innings Game 6 was promising to turn into a cliffhanger as the Lions kept pace with an initial burst of runs by the Bears. But with a change of pitcher at the top of the 6th, the Bears conceded only one more run and held firm to stop the game at the top of the 9th inning.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
But an action-packed first hour hinted at the possibility of an epic contest in tonight's deciding game.
The Bears' Chen Chin-feng stamped his mark on proceedings, with his two homers accounting for five of the Bears' six runs, while the Lions' ever-dependable Tilson Brito also hit two homers, though sadly for the Lions the bases were empty when he stepped up to the plate.
The first of Chen's home runs came in the 1st inning after singles by Huang Lung-yi and Tsai Chien-wei. The Bears never relinquished that lead.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
But the Lions tried hard, pegging their foe back to 3-2 in the next inning with hits by Yang Sen and Hsu Sheng-chieh sending Liu Fu-hao and Chen Lien-hung home respectively. Liu had been the first batter up and comically survived a fly ball when three fielders were blinded by the floodlights.
The Lions followed that up with good fielding, sending the Bears back into their cave with a double play in the 3rd. But the Bears pulled further ahead by 4-2 in the 4th with a Chen Feng-min double allowing Tseng Hao-ju to make it home.
Brito then answered the call and hit his first homer to peg the score back to 4-3, only for Chen Chin-feng to hit Lions fans in the gut with a two-run homer in the next inning, which would be the team's last runs.
Liu Fu-hao hit a homer in the 6th to make it 6-4, prompting the Bears coaching team to replace pitcher Hsu Yu-wei with Hsu Wen-hsiung, who closed the game strongly, but not before conceding the Lions' final run to Brito in the 7th, who again smashed one over the left field fence.
From there the game slowed down as the two pitchers took control, though the 9th inning scared the Bears momentarily as a substitute for Yang Po-chao -- who had been walked -- survived a double play attempt at second base when the throw crashed into the back of his helmet and flew past the baseman.
But Hsu closed the game with a ground out, delighting him as much as any of the fans.
The Bears' Yu Chin-te, his ankle still in a cast after injuring it in the outfield in Wednesday's game, gave a sympathy pitch for the crowd before the game.
The winner of the Taiwan Series qualifies for the third Konami Cup Asia Series in Japan from Nov. 8 to Nov. 11. The three other teams in the ?100 million (US$875,000) competition are the winners of the Japan Series and the Korean Series and a composite team of Chinese baseballers from the China Baseball League.
DOUBLE: Harry Kane has now netted 12 goals in six games, scoring his second hat-trick this season after Bayern’s opening Bundesliga match against Leipzig last month That man again. Harry Kane scored his second hat-trick of the season on Saturday to steer Bayern Munich to a 4-1 win at Hoffenheim for the best Bundesliga start any team has made after four rounds. The England captain scored before the break and converted two penalties after it to take his club tally to 12 goals in six games across all competitions — 13 goals in seven games including the German Supercup. Kane’s other hat-trick was in the Bundesliga-opening 6-0 rout of Leipzig. Bayern’s record of 12 points with a goal difference of 15-plus is the best after four rounds of the Bundesliga
SSC Napoli on Monday maintained their lead at the top of Serie A with a 3-2 win over promoted Pisa SC, which continued the champions’ perfect start to their domestic campaign. Lorenzo Lucca’s first goal for his new club, thumped home in the 82nd minute, ended up being the winning goal in a narrow win for Napoli, who have 12 points from four league matches. That put Napoli two points ahead of second-placed Juventus following their great rivals’ draw at Hellas Verona on Saturday, and three ahead of AS Roma and AC Milan who complete the top four. Napoli head to the San
Rwanda is to take center stage from today as the first African country to host the cycling world championships, in its latest use of sports to improve the country’s reputation. As it prepares for 5,000 cyclists and 20,000 spectators, Rwanda has spruced up its roads, created a network of cycle lanes and run multiple police drills. A poor, landlocked country in east Africa still widely associated with a horrific genocide in 1994, Rwanda has used various sports to revamp its image, attract tourists and impress investors with its organizational efficiency. It has spent lavishly on soccer sponsorship deals with clubs
Joji Nasova scored two tries and Fiji captured a second consecutive Pacific Nations Cup men’s rugby title yesterday by defeating Japan 33-27 at Salt Lake City, Utah. Fiji seized a 33-10 lead on Nasova’s try early in the second half, then held off a furious Japan rally over the final minutes in a rematch of last year’s final. “A dream come true,” Nasova said. The Fijians stretched their record Cup title total to seven and took the event’s first back-to-back crowns since they won four in a row from 2015 to 2018. “We overcame a tough Japanese side that came back on us in
RSS