Pitcher Hong Jeong-woo picked up his first win in Taiwan’s Asian Winter Baseball League, helping South Korea prevail 6-4 over CPBL Select in Yunlin County’s Douliou City, while Europe United defeated the National Trainees 9-5 in Taichung yesterday.
Hong, a relief pitcher for the Samsung Lions, took over from southpaw starter Lee Young-jae when the game was tied at 4-4, tossing three scoreless innings to pocket the victory.
The South Korean team scored late runs to hand the slumping CPBL Select their sixth game without a win.
Photo courtesy of the CPBL
The hosts wasted two home runs by stars Yang Kuang-wei and Lin Ming-chieh.
Vincent Ahrens of Germany had three runs batted in as he combined with three hits by Dutch international Dudley Leonora to lead Europe United over the National Trainees.
Starting pitcher Liu Yu-yen took the loss, giving up five runs on nine hits through the first six frames.
The late result saw Japan West come out on top against Japan East 7-5.
After two weeks of competition, the Japanese teams have set the pace.
Japan West are undefeated with six wins in six outings to sit atop the table, with Japan East and South Korea tied for second with three wins each.
Europe Select and the National Trainees follow, while CPBL Select have a miserable record of five defeats and one draw after their opening-round win.
They are firmly at the bottom of the table.
In the other news, the four CPBL clubs announced their 60-man protected lists, which will be the basis of their rosters for the coming season, starting at spring training.
Those not on the lists are considered free agents.
Chinatrust Brothers veterans Peng Cheng-min and Wang Sheng-wei were left out of the side’s roster, prompting them to file for free agency.
The other big star left out of roster was former Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Kuo Hong-chih, who was released by the Uni-President Lions after three injury-prone seasons.
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