Taiwan Cooperative Bank rode the right arm of Huang Chien-lung all the way to victory by winning the first-ever game in the newly established Popcorn Baseball League last night with an 8-0 blanking of the Topco Scientific Falcons at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium.
The perennial powerhouse in local amateur baseball made the most of a rare public TV appearance by dominating their opposition from the get-go, thanks to a stellar effort by Huang, who went the distance for the Bankers on 109 pitches in an eight-hitter without a walk to pocket the impressive victory.
What many had considered an evenly matched contest was all-Bankers as they broke through against Topco Scientific starter Cheng Wen-hao with a three-run first, with hired guns Luis Rivera and Kody Kirkland singling off Cheng to drive in a run each before His Chih-fong’s RBI triple made it 3-0 after one inning of play.
That was all the offense that Huang needed to give him the necessary confidence to throw first-pitch strikes against the Falcon hitters, a much-craved luxury that made Huang even harder to face.
“I wouldn’t want to disappoint the fans that have come to cheer us on tonight,” Huang said.
The normally soft-spoken hurler, who is not known for blazing velocity, more than made up for his lack of speed with a pinpoint control that netted him a walkless outing.
He also received plenty of help from a defense that turned two double plays to end a pair of legitimate scoring threats by the Falcons, on a night the Falcons managed to reach base safely often, but could not come up with the clutch hits to deliver any runs.
Today’s Game
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