[Previous entry: "Japan Baseball News: Tigers Lose - Giants Win; Hasegawa 0.33 ERA"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Korea Baseball News: Wyverns & Tigers Climb; Lee Ho-joon 3 HRs, 10 RBIs, 7-for-9"]
05/24/2003 Archived Entry: "Taiwan Baseball News: In Taiwan, Foreign Players Perform Or Else...."
Taiwan Baseball News: Manuel Francois moved off 25-man roster; Liang shuts down Bulls; Whales-Lions all tied up
By Andrew Wong
Sinon Bulls 2 First Securities Agan 5
On a night when he did not have his best stuff, First Securities Agan ace Rue-hao Liang still managed to shutdown the Sinon Bulls.
The Agan pulled off an upset last night at Kaoshung Stadium in front of 1,835 fans as Liang bounced back from a rough outing to record his fifth win of the 2003 Chinese Professional Baseball League season.
Liang scattered four hits, gave up two earned runs, en route to his team's 5-2 victory over the Sinon Bulls. Liang was named the Game's MVP and improved to 5-4-0. Surprisingly, he walked five and struck out no batters but not surprisingly, he is responsible for five of his team's eight wins. Closer Feng-hua Lee has not had a lot to save but he pitched three scoreless innings to record his fourth save of the year. He gave up one hit and struck out three.
Dominican native Osvaldo Martinez fell to 6-4-0 after he gave up four runs, three of which were earned, in 5 1/3 innings of work. He walked two and struck out five.
The 27-11-1 Bulls briefly tied the game 1-1 on second baseman Chang-yi Huang's third home run of the season off Liang in the top half of the sixth inning. He would finish the night 1-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Left fielder Song-yong Luo finished the evening 2-for-3 with one run plated.
AGAN NOTE: The Agan have moved Dominican infielder Manuel Francois off its 25-man roster to make room for No. 99 Yun Gyong Hee from South Korea. He is a right-handed pitcher who also hits right. He's 183 cm tall, weighs 88 kg and this is his first year in the CPBL. Francois was batting .214 in six games. He had no home runs and one RBI. In Taiwan, you're expected to come up big if you're a foreign player.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Bulls 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 5 1
Agan 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 X 5 7 1
WP: Rue-hao Liang (5-4-0)
LP: Osvaldo Martinez (6-4-0)
SV: Feng-hua Lee (4)
HR: 2B Chang-yi Huang (Bulls) (3, off Rue-hao Liang in sixth inning)
Game MVP: P Rue-hao Liang (Agan)
Attendance: 1,835
Venue: Kaoshung Stadium, Taiwan
Game time: 2:49
Pitching Lines
Bulls IP H R ER BB SO Pitches Strikes Balls BF
Osvaldo Martinez 5 1/3 4 4 3 2 5 91 56 35 23
Wen-pin Hsu 2 2/3 3 1 1 0 1 33 20 13 11
Agan IP H R ER BB SO Pitches Strikes Balls BF
Rue-hao Liang 6 4 2 2 5 0 86 43 43 25
Feng-hua Lee 3 1 0 0 0 3 35 24 11 10
President Lions 5 China Trust Whales 5
The President Lions rallied with three runs in the top half of the eighth inning to salvage a 5-5 draw with the China Trust Whales last night at Tian Mu Stadium in front of 3,115 onlookers.
Hitting was all that mattered and Whales first baseman Chi-fong Hung hit his fourth home run of the CPBL season off Lions rookie starter Pan-wei Luen, who gave up nine hits, five runs, four earned, in 7 1/3 innings. Hung finished at 1-for-4 with one run scored and two runs driven in. Dominican third baseman Juan Melo would also connect off Luen for a solo blast, his third of the season. Melo finished the night 1-for-4. Also contributing for the 24-12-4 Whales was center fielder Song-hsuen Yang, who went 2-for-5 in the leadoff spot.
But the biggest hero of them all was Japanese native Hiroaki Yoshimi, who drove in two runs late in the ball game to salvage the tie for the 21-16-2 Leos. The second baseman, who later moved to short stop, went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Batting in front of him was leadoff man Kang-ling Huang, in center field. Huang went 3-for-5 with one run scored while right/left fielder Chuan-jia Wang chipped in with a 1-for-3 performance to go along with one RBI.
Po-chang Sheng came in to relieve Luen and pitched 2/3 scoreless innings before giving way to Jung-yang Tsao, who threw two scoreless innings, giving up just the lone hit.
Dominican nativDominican native Maximo Rosa started the game for the Whales and gave up all five of his team's runs in eight innings. He scattered ten hits, walked five and struck out four. Kuo-lee Chien-fu then came in and pitched one eventful inning as he gave up a hit and walked one. He then struck out one to get out of the inning.
The Lions and Whales will play again tonight (5:05 p.m. Taiwan time), this time at Shingchu Stadium.
LIONS NOTE: American pitcher John Burgos was added to the 25-man roster with Dominican Maximo Nunez being removed. Burgos is 181 cm tall, weighs 95 kg, and throws and hits left. He played in the CPBL last year, appearing in 30 games with a 3.85 ERA. Nunez was 3-5-0 with a 3.91 ERA in 12 games this year. He had 19 strikeouts in 48 1/3 innings.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Lions 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 12 3
Whales 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 5 10 0
HR: 1B Chi-fong Hung (Whales) (4, off Pan-wei Luen), 3B Juan Melo (Whales) (3, off Luen)
Game MVP: 2B/SS Hiroaki Yoshimi (Lions)
Attendance: 3,115
Venue: Tian Mu Stadium, Taiwan
Game time: 3:51
Today's Games (games at 5:05 p.m. Taiwan time)
At Shingchu Stadium: President Lions (21-16-2) at China Trust Whales (24-12-4)
At Tian Mu Stadium: Makoto Gida (14-24-1) at Brother Elephants (18-18-1)
2003 Chinese Professional Baseball League standings
W L T GB Pct.
1. Sinon Bulls 27 11 1 --- .711
2. China Trust Whales 24 12 4 2.0 .667
3. President Lions 21 16 2 5.5 .568
4. Brother Elephants 18 18 1 8.0 .500
5. Makoto Gida 14 24 1 13.0 .368
6. First Securities Agan 8 31 1 19.5 .205
