The La New Bears fell a game short of a series sweep against the Yomiuri Giants as they dropped a 3-0 decision in the series finale at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Sunday to close out the four-day competition with a 3-1 finish.
Giants starter Namaguchi Takahiko was virtually unhittable with a repertoire of pitches that baffled the Bears lineup throughout the game, taking a no-hitter two outs into the eighth before the Bears’ Lin Chih-ping mustered a blooper single to shallow-right for the lone Bears hit in the game.
Matching Namaguchi with an equally brilliant performance was Bears starter Tsai Ying-fong who carried a four-hit shutout into the sixth before surrendering a pair of runs (one earned) on a two-run single to the Giants’ Nakai Daisuke as the result of an earlier error by the La New defense in a losing cause. He would leave the game in the same inning after recording an out with runner on second.
“The error by the defense might have thrown my rhythm off a bit, but all the credit should go to their hitters nonetheless,” Tsai said after the game.
Nakai was not done with his total dominance at the plate as the emerging slugger who led the Japanese minor league in total hits also belted a double off Bears reliever Hsu Chih-hua to leadoff the eighth and scored two batters later to take part in all three of the Giants runs in the game.
Picking up the impressive win with nine masterful innings of one-hit ball was Namaguchi who actually retired the first 15 batters he faced before issuing a walk in the top of the sixth to lose his bid for a perfect game.
Taking the tough loss on behalf of the home Bears was Tsai who pitched well in his own right with two allowed runs on a half-dozen hits over 5-1/3 innings of work, but was simply outdone by Namaguchi.
Upcoming Offseason
With the four-game friendly series under their belt, the Bears’ offseason will officially begin this week as they take a well-deserved rest before winter training commences later next month. It was a good season for them in more than one aspect even though they fell short of a league title by losing to the Brother Elephants in the Playoff Series.
Staff ace Mike Johnson’s selection to the league’s Most Valuable Player award was only one of several individual honors for which the Bears were recognized.
Budding star Chung Cheng-yo, who launched three homers off the Giants during the four-game series, will undoubtedly add to the already-potent Bears offense that features home run threats in Chen Chin-fong, Lin Chih-sheng and Huang Long-yi in a highly anticipated 2009 season.
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