TAIPEI, Taiwan | A total of 37,890 enthusiastic fans packed the recently opened Taipei Dome to watch the first professional baseball game ever held in the venue. The Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) defeated the local Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) CTBC Brothers in the first game of a double header on Saturday - reaching various milestones in the process.
The game served as the kick-off event for the Yomiuri Giants' 90th anniversary, became the first sold-out game at the Dome and set the record for the largest audience in a single game in Taiwan's baseball history.
The Yomiuri Giants defeated the CTBC Brothers, 4-1.
Yomiuri Giants’ starting pitcher Shosei Togo, who represented Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, was impressed with the hometown crowd: “I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like this in Japan. Even if the game is over, I still have the cheering in my head now.”
Togo struck out six batters in three innings and was named pitching MVP of the game.
Yuto Akihiro of the Giants collected three hits with three RBIs and was named hitting MVP of the game.
CTBC Brothers captain Wei-Chen Wang, the All-World third baseman in the WBSC Premier12 2019, produced the Brothers' first hit in the sixth inning.
“I felt very fortunate to be able to play against the Giants,” he commented.
Wang had an 11-pitch at-bat against the Giants pitcher in the eighth but ended up with an out.
“It was my bad. I should’ve done better,” he said. “It was great that I could face many great pitchers in this game. I had hoped to do better, but it didn’t go my way.”
In the second game of the series, the Rakuten Monkeys were able to produce eight hits but ended up without scoring a run. The Giants only collected one base hit.
In the bottom of the ninth, Monkeys’ right fielder Cheng-Hua Lin cleared the fence to catch Giants’ catcher Takumi Ohshiro’s deep fly. The game ended on a double play.
Another significant moment of Game Two came when legendary Taiwanese Giants player Min-Tzu Lu was introduced to the crowd of 30,890 during the pregame ceremony. Lu was a member of the Giants organization between 1988 and 1991 and was widely known for hitting the first home run in his first at-bat with the team.
Lu belted 10 home runs in his first 17 games with the Giants and was nicknamed Asian Cannon and Monster Lu by Japanese media.
During the pregame ceremony, Lu was joined by former Giants pitcher Chien-Ming Chiang (2005-2008) and current Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe (2001-2019), a former World Baseball Classic winner, as the trio were invited to throw the ceremonial pitch.
After the two-game series, Abe praised local fans who “are very much into the game and give their teams the biggest support.”
He also recognized the broadcasting crew for their “presentation of key details of the game.”
The two-game series set the record for the most and second-most attendance in Taiwan's baseball history as more than 60,000 fans visited the Taipei Dome to watch the first series of professional games to be played in the venue.
The Giants will open their NPB season on 29 March against the Tigers, while the CPBL will open the 2024 season with the defending champions, Weichuan Dragons, taking on the Rakuten Monkeys in the Taipei Dome.
