The Uni-President Lions teed off against the CPBL All-Stars with 18 hits in a 12-4 rout in Game 2 of their three-game exhibition series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to keep their spirits high.
The Lions broke a 3-all tie through the fifth wide open in the sixth with six straight hits to take a 7-3 lead and went on to defeat their opponents in a lopsided win.
Reliever Chang Chih-chiang was credited with the victory for tossing a scoreless fifth, while the loss went to the Elephants’ Yeh Ding-ren for serving up the go-ahead runs in the sixth.
With Friday night’s opener scratched because of bad weather, last night’s contest drew a decent-sized crowd to help cheer on the Big Cats as they came off a three-week long break that could have left them rusty.
However, the slow-starting Lions offense finally got on track after five lethargic frames to show their fans what they were truly made of.
The exhibition series is organized by the CPBL in preparation for the upcoming Asian Series where the champions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, South Korea’s Korean Baseball Organization and Australia’s Australian Baseball League will pay the Lions a visit to compete for the bragging rights as Asia’s No. 1 professional baseball squad.
To help make this possible, the CPBL has put together an All-Star team made up of the Brother Elephants and the Lamigo Monkeys to keep the Lions in game shape as they get ready to host the Asian Series’ first visit to Taiwan.
“We are thrilled about having the chance to host an international event as visible and meaningful as this one and we hope to keep the title in Taiwan if possible,” Lions skipper Lu Wen-sheng said earlier this week.
His troops will finish off the series with another round against the All-Stars this afternoon with the opening pitch scheduled for 5:05pm in Taoyuan.
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