New Taipei City held a potent Taipower batting lineup to a pair of runs for a 5-2 victory in the title game at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon, winning this year’s Cross-Strait Challenge in grand fashion by winning all five of the games they played.
Huang Bo-kai drove in three runs with a clutch inside-the-park home run in the top of the third inning to put his team 3-1 ahead. The speedy leadoff man lined an offering from Taipower starter Wang Tsong-hao to right-center and blazed around the bases just in time to beat the throw at the plate for what ended up being the game-winning hit.
The New Taipei City defense also turned three double plays in the game, taking away at least four scoring chances from the Power Crew that might have changed the outcome of the match.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Starter Hsieh Chang-rong was credited with the win for his seven innings of one-run ball on four hits, beating his counterpart Wang.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank 3, Taipei City 2
Taiwan Cooperative Bank edged Taipei City 3-2 at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon to take home third place in this year’s competition.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Wang Hsin-chuan’s walk-off single off Lee Jung-chi proved to be the difference in the game as the slugger out of National Taiwan Sports University came up big with a clutch base hit that scored a runner from second to help his club claim their second win.
The Bankers scored twice in the second inning and held the lead through the seventh, before allowing Taipei City back in the game by knotting things up at 2-2 with two runs of their own off reliever Chen Fan-hsou.
Guangdong Leopards 4,
Tianjin Lions 1
In the fight for fifth place, it was the Guangdong Leopards who outmaneuvered the Tianjin Lions in a 4-1 decision in Tianmu earlier yesterday afternoon.
Na Chuang played the hero for the second straight game by driving in three runs for the second straight day, following his three-run blast in their game the night before that helped the Leopards topped the Jiangsu Hopestars in extra innings.
Starter Wang Pei and reliever Sun Guo-chiang combined for a three-hitter, with the former pitching five shutout innings and the latter closing out with an unearned run over the final four innings.
Jiangsu Hopestars 8,
Sichuan Dragons 6
The Jiangsu Hopestars held a seemingly comfortable 5-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, before allowing the Sichuan Dragons to tie the game at 6-6 in the eighth, before coming up with two crucial runs in the top of the ninth to win it 8-6 in the battle for the seventh in Sinjhuang.
Former Uni-President Lions manager Lu Wen-sheng finished off his first game in a non-Taiwanese uniform by guiding the Hopestars past the Dragons for the second time in a week.
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