MLB Team prevails 5-3 over Taiwan in Game 2 of All-Star Series

Team Taiwan battled all the way in this hard-fought contest, but the visiting MLB All-Stars prevailed for the 5-3 Game 2 victory played yesterday (Nov. 3) in central Taiwan’s Taichung City.

With the score levelled at 3-3 heading into the late innings, both sides looked for the big bats to come through and finish the job.

It was left to the stars from U.S. baseball’s royalty clubs of Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to decide the outcome in this second round of the MLB All-Star Series in Taiwan.

Red Sox outfielder Josh Reddick led off the 7th inning with a double against Taiwan’s 3rd pitcher Lo Ching-Lung (a former prospect in the Colorado Rockies minor leagues).

Reddick advanced to third base on a grounder out by next batter Andres Torres of the San Francisco Giants.  With alertness, the Red Sox rookie broke for home to score on a wild pitch by Lo, and broke the tie to make it 4-3.

This then set the table for the New York Yankees connection to take the spotlight.  After two outs still in the 7th frame, this year’s Yankee RBI and home run leader Curtis Granderson worked the pitcher for a walk.

His pinstripe teammate Robinson Cano is next up, and the Yankee second baseman Cano ripped a drive to center field for a double, as Granderson hustled home from 2nd base to add an insurance run for the visitors.

Thereafter, it was up to relievers Ramon Ramirez (SF Giants) and Bill Bray (Cincinnati Reds) to mop up, with the two each pitching a scoreless 8th and 9th frame to preserve the 5-3 triumph for the MLB All-Stars.

Team Taiwan had their chances in this game, and had more hits (total of 9 compared to 7 for the visitors) to stay close throughout.   They were leading 3-2 over the Major Leaguers heading into the bottom-half of 6th inning.

The host team, composed mostly of minor league prospects playing in U.S., Japan, and Taiwan, had the boisterous fans at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium cheering wildly to a possible victory.

The local players also turned 4 double-plays through this game to keep the MLB team at bay.

Starting pitcher Wang Yao-Lin (prospect with the Chicago Cubs) had a strong outing, as he left the game in the bottom of 5th inning with his team leading by 3-2.

Through his stellar display, he struck out three MLB big hitters – Curtis Granderson, Michael Morse (Washington Nationals), and Pablo Sandoval (SF Giants).  A feat which became a major talking point and got highly praised by local fans and the media.

However, the visiting All-Stars proved their worth by mounting a comeback against reliever Lo in the 7th inning to gain upper hand for the win.

MLB team manager Bruce Bochy was impressed by the opposition, “It was a close, tight game, very well played.  They battled us all the way.  They had good pitching and got the timely hits against us and scored some runs.  We had to fight back, and needed the key hits to win this game.”

Ross Detwiler of the Washington Nationals started on the mount for the visitors, with reliever LaTroy Hawkins also seeing action for 1 and 1/3 innings.

MLB’s third pitcher Rich Thompson (LA Angels) tossed two scoreless innings in 6th and 7th to register the win.

Taiwan manager Chen Wei-Chen said, “Both teams had excellent performance.  We played better in this game, and players are more focused.   Our hitting gave us lots of chances, but we just could not string the hits together.  Overall, the players had done pretty well against the MLB All-Stars.”

A major concern for the locals was the injury to outfielder Luo Kuo-Hui, who crash-landed at home plate as he attempted to score from third base on a grounder hit during the 5th inning.

Luo (a prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization) is a popular star for local fans for his outstanding performance as a member of Taiwan national team at international tournaments.

In this 5th inning incident, Luo was carried off on a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital for emergency surgery.  He had sustained a fracture in the lower calf bone and dislocated the ankle in the left leg.

Bochy also expressed sympathy and support for Luo in the post-game briefing, “We’re still concerned about the accident at home plate.  That was really a tragedy in a good ballgame, so that takes away a little bit from a good ballgame.”

Officials from Taiwan’s national baseball association put out a statement saying they had taken insurance coverage for all local players taking part in this series.

They stated that Luo will have good support and well taken care of through his medical treatment, recuperation, and physical therapy for getting back to the game.

Latest local news reported that Luo will likely be out for at least three months, and might be back to playing in six-month’s time.

Game 3 of the MLB All-Star Series is set for Friday (Nov. 4th) also in Taichung City. The final two games will take place this weekend in southern Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung.