Homers by Chung Chen-yo and Chen Fong-min for the second straight game led the drive as the La New Bears doubled up 6-3 on the Yomiuri Giants minor league team of Japan at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on Friday evening in Game 2 of the four-game set.
The latest Bears bashing tandem — after only four combined homers to their credit over the course of the regular season — has emerged from nowhere and actually exceeded their season total by teeing off against the Giants pitching with five long balls (three by Chung and two by Chen) in two games to stun the visitors, making up for the lack of offensive output from the heart of the order.
“I guess I am seeing the ball a lot better than I expected, that’s probably the difference,” Chung said after the game.
He also credited the team’s success to the fine starting pitching by Hsu Wen-hsiung (in Game 1) and Game 2 winner Chang Chih-jia (formerly of the Seibu Lions).
Round 2 of the four-game series saw the home Bears wasting little time getting on the board against Giants starter Lin Yi-hao, who is a native of Taiwan in his second season with the Giants minor league squad, as Tsai Jien-wei led off the top of the third with a standup double and scored two batters later on a wild pitch by Lin to lead it 1-0.
Chiang Chih-tsong’s RBI-single to left with runners at the corners in the same inning quickly made it 2-0 in favor of the Bears before Chung’s towering shot to left off Giants reliever Lee Yu-hung (also a Taiwanese native) put his team ahead 3-0 in the top of the fourth.
The Giants offense finally got going against the fine pitching of Chang in the bottom of the fourth with consecutive extra-base hits by Odajima Masakuni and Iwadate Manabu, scoring the club’s first run of the game to make it 3-1.
After a scoreless fifth the Bears would muster another offensive with Chen leading off the sixth with a solo dinger off reliever Togano Masafumi before Tsai Tsong-yo followed with a two-run single that gave the Bears a commanding 6-1 advantage.
Down by five, the Giants would score their second run of the game in the eighth on Nakai Daisuke’s sacrifice fly and actually loaded up the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth on back-to-back walks and a single off Bears reliever Hsu Ming-jeh.
But a run was all they could manage against the Bears as top closer Jermaine Van Buren induced two groundouts that led to a run before fanning the final batter with two on to preserve the victory.
Chang was credited with the win for throwing one-run ball on four hits over six strong innings to beat his counterpart Lin, who struggled with his control over three sub-par innings, allowing a pair of runs on five hits, four walks and two wild pitches.
BEARS 4, GIANTS 3
The Bears edged the Giants in Game 3 of the series last night. The final is tonight at 5pm at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu.
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