Chen Lien-hong's grand slam off China's Xu Zheng capped a six-run seventh as the President Lions overcame a 1-4 deficit to top the Chinese national squad 9-5 in Game 1 of the 2007 Konami Cup Asia Series in Tokyo Japan yesterday.
The veteran slugger, who also went deep in the ninth for his second homer in an amazing six-RBI outburst to help the Lions avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss to the Chinese side to open this year's competition in grand fashion.
The annual gathering of the champions from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB), South Korea's Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), and the Chinese national team saw the Lions trailing by as many as three runs through the first six innings before coming up big in a game-turning seventh to run away with the victory.
PHOTO: AFP
Kao Guo-ching's clutch single after Pan Wu-hsiung doubled in the top of the first gave the Lions a quick 1-0 lead before the China Stars answered with a pair of runs off Lions starter Nelson Figueroa in the bottom of the same inning to actually lead it 2-1.
The China Stars tacked on two more runs with Zhang Hongbo's run-scoring single in the second and a sacrifice fly by Liu Guangbiao in the fifth that had them thinking about an upset before Chen came to the rescue with his big bat to turn the game around in the seventh.
"All I wanted to do was to make contact, since we had the bases loaded, but I'll take the homer just as well," Chen said in the postgame interview, referring to his monstrous blast.
His younger brother Chen Chin-fong of the La New Bears also homered off China twice in last year's game, including the first-ever grand slam in the series' three-year history.
After grabbing their second lead of the game with a six-run seventh, the Lions sent Tsai Shih-chin to the mound in a scoreless eighth before closer Tseng Yi-cheng wrapped up the win in a one-run ninth to make it official.
Picking up the win for the Lions was Figueroa, who fell behind early but was able to keep his club in the game with a four-run effort, despite allowing a dozen hits over seven innings.
As for China, reliever Xu was tagged with the loss for serving up Chen Lien-hong's grand slam and Yang Seng's solo shot in the six-run seventh. He managed to record only one out against the seven batters he faced while allowing four hits and a pair of walks.
Contrary to what the final score might have suggested, the Chinese national team actually outhit the Lions by a 16-14 margin, showing considerable improvement.
Wyverns 6, Dragons 3
In yesterday's other game, Kim Kwang-hyun pitched six-and-two-third innings as South Korea's SK Wyverns defeated Japan's Chunichi Dragons 6-3. Kim, a 19-year-old rookie, gave up one run while striking out five to pick up the win.
Today's Game
The Lions will take on the Chunichi Dragons of Japan's NPB tonight at 5:30pm Taiwan time in a rematch of last year's title game, which was won by Japan's Nippon Ham Fighters.
Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen will try to end a three-game losing skid for Taiwan by taking his 16-2 regular-season record to the mound against a hard-hitting Chunichi lineup.
Even though it will be an uphill battle for the Lions, they may have a chance to pull off an upset if they can keep it a low-scoring affair.
Schedule
* Today
11:30pm: SK Wyverns v China Stars
5:30pm: Lions v Chunichi Dragons
* Tomorrow
11pm: Chunichi Dragons v China Stars
5pm: SK Wyverns v Lions
* Sunday
5pm: Final
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS