Wei Chuan Dragons starting pitcher Hsu Jo-si delivered a sterling performance in Game 6 of the Taiwan Series last night, cruising through seven shutout innings to give his team a 2-0 win over the Rakuten Monkeys.
The result at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium locked the series up at 3-3, forcing the seventh and decisive game, which is to be played today at the same venue.
It was a pitching battle between two young Taiwanese stars, with fireballer Hsu prevailing over Monkeys submariner Huang “Tiger” Tzu-peng.
Photo: CNA
A rookie sensation in 2021, Hsu was plagued by injuries and sidelined for the whole of last season.
This year he played only five regular-season games — a mere 15-1/3 innings of action.
However, he had an impressive 1.17 ERA, and was credited with one win and one save.
Photo: CNA
Last night, he had pinpoint control with blazing fastballs while mixing in his change-ups and splitters to handcuff a potent Monkeys line-up, who in Game 5 on Friday had pounded 15 hits, including three homers, in an 11-0 victory.
Those bats could do little against Hsu last night, who yielded only one hit through seven frames with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Huang gave up a run in opening frame and the Dragons scored an insurance run in the sixth.
Photo: CNA
Huang was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs through six innings on seven hits and a walk, with four strikeouts.
In the bottom of the first, Dragons infielder Lee Kai-wei hit a grounder through center field for a single. Lee advanced to second base on designated hitter Giljegiljaw Kungkuan’s flyball to left field and to third on outfielder Kuo Tian-hsin’s sacrifice bunt.
Liu Chi-hong hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring Lee home.
Photo: CNA
In the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs, Liu reached first with a shot to right field. Ngayaw Ake followed that up with a single that advanced Liu to third.
Shortstop Chang Cheng-yu hit a double that brought Liu home.
The Monkeys avoided any further damage when Lin Hsiao-cheng was caught.
The Dragons replaced Hsu in the eighth, bringing on Lin Kai-wei, while Chen Kuan-wei closed the door on the Monkeys by pitching a scoreless final frame.
It was Hsu’s longest outing so far of his short career.
When he departed, he said he did not feel tired and had enjoyed the excitement.
When presented with the game’s Most Valuable Player award, Hsu told reporters: “It is really a great feeling to nail down this win, because I did not disappoint our manager, Yeh Chun-chang. He trusted me to start this game.”
“If we had lost, there was no tomorrow — no Game 7,” he said. “So I put in a full effort on every pitch.”
Hsu said he did not notice that he had a no-hitter going through four frames.
“I was only focused on my catcher and where he placed the mitt,” he said, adding that he had been a little nervous.
“It was only when I finished my outing that the burden lifted,” he said.
“I had injuries all last year and had to rest a lot,” he said. “Manager Yeh and the medical staff really helped a lot. They are the reason I have improved this year.”
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