VIDEO: Ex-Giants Prospect Henry Sosa Ignites Brawl in Taiwan's CPBL With 4 Straight Beanball Attempts
By Nick Porr
At a time where nearly every international sports league is on hold, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CBPL) plays on in Taiwan. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the league has been playing the 2020 season with empty stadiums, but thanks to proper mitigation, the action has thankfully been able to continue...and it is electric. And after Henry Sosa's appearance on the mound for the Fubon Guardians on Sunday, the benches were empty, too.
Sosa's brawl-starting appearance against the Rakuten Monkeys was relentless, to say the least.
In the fourth inning, with two outs, Sosa seemed to decide that Monkeys second baseman Kuo Yen-Wen was crowding the plate, and delivered a brushback pitch. Then another. And another. After the third straight inside pitch, the umpire intervened to talk to Sosa, the batter, and the catcher. The talk had no impact, as Yen-Wen crowded the plate again, and Sosa beaned him on a 3-0 count.
The Monkeys were angered by Sosa's clearly obvious plunking of Yen-Wen, leading to the first bench clearing of 2020.
Sosa is a Dominican-born pitcher who began his pro career with the San Francisco Giants organization in 2006. After spending five years moving between the Giants' Minor League affiliates, Sosa was traded to the Houston Astros in 2011. That year, Sosa managed to break through to the majors on a lowly 56-106 Astros team. Sosa started ten games, going 3-5 with a 5.23 ERA.
Although it would be more exciting for American fans to be seeing a bench-clearing fight between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, any baseball action is welcome with the MLB season currently postponed.