Last night's playoff opener between the visiting Taipei Gida and the home Kaohsiung Fala was anything but close as Gida stunned the home crowd by blowing away Fala by 12 runs to 6.
Gida drew first blood by taking three runs in the first off Fala starter Carlos Chavez. The lead was quickly reduced to 3-2 by the end of the third, thanks to a wild pitch by Gida starter Yamahara Kazutoshi and a RBI single by shortstop Rafael Osuna.
Then came the game-clinching Gida fifth. Three hits and a costly error scored two more runs and chased off starter Chavez after only one out.
Reliever Lee Fong-hua (
Gida padded their lead further by scoring two runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh to make it 12-3 by the seventh-inning stretch.
The story of the game was Fala's inability to cash in on scoring chances when they had them.
During both the fifth and sixth inning, Fala had the bases loaded, but were only able to walk away with one run.
Even though they did manage to score three runs against Gida reliever Yeh Chien-wen (
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