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.
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
Algeria on Sunday became the third country after Egypt and Nigeria to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations by edging Burkina Faso 1-0 in Rabat through a Riyad Mahrez penalty. Defending champions Ivory Coast failed to join the trio after drawing 1-1 with Cameroon in a lively showdown in Marrakesh. Elsewhere, Mozambique ended a 39-match wait for a first victory by beating Gabon 3-2, while Sudan got back into contention for a last-16 slot by beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca. Captain Mahrez converted from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Algeria then held on
Supermaxis Master Lock Comanche and defending champions LawConnect yesterday continued their close duel on the second day of the 80th running of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Just over 27 hours into the race that began on Friday in Sydney Harbour and is to end on the island state of Tasmania, Comanche had a 4 nautical mile (7.4km) lead over LawConnect. LawConnect was forced to contend with a broken mainsheet and halyard overnight, but fixed both issues and remained in pursuit of Comanche, which is skippered by Matt Allen and James Mayo. “We had a few things slow us down and Comanche’s
RSS