Two foreign pitchers, Henry Sosa of the Dominican Republic and Kohya Chinen of Japan, chalked up their first wins in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) last week, as the Uni-President Lions (4-6) topped the table after yesterday’s results.
Signed by the Fubon Guardians, Sosa has been sharp in his first two starts, stepping up to become the team’s ace pitcher.
Sosa played with the Houston Astros in 2011, as well as seven years of professional baseball in South Korea.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
In Saturday’s game against the Uni-President Lions, Sosa pitched eight innings for the Guardians, leading them to a 7-3 victory and his first league win.
Sosa cruised early on to hold the Lions scoreless, while his teammates pounded in seven runs for a 7-0 lead at the end of the fifth inning.
He gave up a run in each of the sixth and seven innings — and reliever Ni Fu-te yielded another in the final inning — but the Guardians had piled up enough runs early on to seize the win.
Sosa’s stellar numbers on the night — throwing eight strikeouts and one walk, and scattering three hits throughout eight innings — got him named most valuable player.
In the Guardians’ March 24 game against the Lions, Sosa’s first outing in Taiwan, he only gave up one run in eight innings, but had to take a 0-1 loss, as his teammates failed to put any runs up on the scoreboard.
“That’s baseball ... I pitched really well in the last game and only yielded one run, but I had to take the loss,” Sosa said after the game on Saturday. “In this game, I gave up two runs, but ended up with the victory.”
“All I can do is to give my best effort on the mound,” Sosa added. “The important part is for my teammates to score some runs, then we will have good results.”
The Uni-President Lions’ Chinen was also in the spotlight on Friday when he stepped in to relieve starting pitcher Shih Tzu-chien and recorded his first CPBL win by edging the Lamigo Monkeys 5-4.
Although Chinen has been with the Lions last season, he was used sparingly and spent most of his time with the Lions’ farm team.
Born in Okinawa, Chinen played with the Niigata Albirex Baseball Club in the Japanese independent league, as he pursued his dream of pitching in professional baseball.
Pitching the sixth and seventh innings, with the Lions trailing the Monkeys by two runs, Chinen kept the opposition from racking up more runs.
In the bottom half of the seventh inning, Monkeys shortstop Yang Chia-wen smashed in a three-run homer, but the Lions hung on for a one-run victory, making Chinen the winning pitcher.
The Lions’ momentum helped them defeat the Monkeys in two straight outings, with a 9-6 victory on Saturday, but the Monkeys fought back in the finale of a three-game home stand in Tainan yesterday, with a 8-3 rout of the Lions.
In yesterday’s other contest, the Fubon Guardians doubled up on the Brothers Baseball Club with a 6-3 victory in Taichung City.
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