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Taiwanese team wins battle of Lions

Pan Wu-hsiung’s walk-off three-run homer capped a four-run ninth for the Uni-President Lions as they beat the Tianjin Lions of the Chinese Baseball League 7-4 in Game 1 of the 2008 Konami Cup Asia Series in Tokyo yesterday.

The soft-spoken Uni-President slugger also drove in a run in the fifth with a double to account for more half of his team’s total offense.

“I knew it was going to be a base hit right after I hit it, but I didn’t think it was going to leave the park,” a pleasantly surprised Pan said after the game.

It was an unexpectedly close call for the Uni-President Lions, who were one out away from losing to the Chinese squad, reviving painful memories of Taiwan’s defeat by China at the Beijing Olympics earlier this year.

Setting up Pan’s late-game heroics with a clutch game-tying single was Lions rookie Kuo Jung-yo, whose two-out liner to left with the runner on third earned the tying run that breathed new life into the Taiwanese side.

Uni-President fell behind early with three quick runs surrendered by starter Lin Cheng-fong in the top of the second on run-scoring singles by Tianjin’s Meng Zhaopeng and Zhang Zhenwang.

The Chinese tacked on another run in the fourth to lead 4-0 before Uni-President finally got on the board in the fifth when Liu Fu-hao led off the bottom of the inning with a solo blast off Tianjin starter Su Changlong.

That was followed by consecutive RBI-doubles by Huang Kang-lin and Pan to make it 4-3.

The narrow Tianjin lead stood through the eighth, as neither club was able to score against the stellar relief pitching of Uni-President’s Giancarlo Alvarado and his counterpart Lü Jiangang, with the former tossing one-hit ball from the fourth through the eighth and the latter throwing no-hit balls from the fifth through the eighth, walking three.

Lü’s luck finally ran out in the bottom of the ninth as he allowed a leadoff single to Liu and allowed him to reach third two outs later before being chased after serving up Kuo’s game-tying hit.

Picking up the win for the Taiwanese was reliever Tseng Yi-cheng who pitched a perfect ninth to beat Lü, who flashed signs of brilliance at times but fell apart in the end in the face of tremendous pressure down the stretch.

WYVERNS 4, SEIBU LIONS 3

Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) champions SK Wyverns held off Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) champions Saitama Seibu Lions 4-3 last night in their first-round clash, taking advantage of early home runs from right fielder Park Jae-hong and DH Lee Jae-won and a strong combined effort from their bullpen.

The Wyverns jumped to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning behind the two home runs and the eventual game winner, an RBI single from left fielder Park Jae-sang.

A controversial call early on proved decisive, as Park Jae-hong’s home run — which tied the game at one apiece in the bottom of the second — appeared to hook just around the third base foul pole, but was ruled a home run by the home plate umpire.

Left-handed reliever Lee Seung-ho picked up the win in relief for the Incheon-based Wyverns, striking out four over three tough scoreless innings. Lee, along with relievers Yun Kil-hyoun and Jung Woo-ram, preserved starter Kim Kwang-hyun’s one-run lead.

The Wyverns’ left-handed ace Kim struggled and lasted just 4-2/3 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits while striking out five. He gave up two runs in the top of the fifth, but was bailed out when Yun Kil-hyoun got DH Gotoh Taketoshi to fly out to center, ending Seibu’s comeback.

Soft-tossing lefty starter Kazuyuki Hoashi took the loss for Seibu, giving up all four runs on five hits, lasting only 3-1/3 innings. He struck out six, but the Wyverns hitters didn’t waste time in solving his mix of off-speed pitches.

Second baseman Hiroshi Hirao had a good game at the plate, going two-for-four with two runs and two RBIs in a losing cause for Seibu.

TODAY’S GAMES

The Uni-President Lions tonight take on the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s NPB, who needed seven games to beat the Yomiuri Giants and earn the right to represent Japan in this year’s competition.

Either Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen or Luther Hackman, the Game 7 winner of this year’s Taiwan ­Series, will take the mound for the Lions.

The Wyverns face China’s Tianjin Lions in the early game.

The annual Asia Series pitches the champions of Japan’s NPB, South Korea’s KBO, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League and China’s Chinese Baseball League against each other.
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