Social distancing goes for a toss as brawl erupts in CPBL

Taiwan, April 20 (IANS) The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) was caught in the eye of the storm after a mass brawl erupted during a match between Dubon Guardians and Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday.

The CPBL, which is based out of Taiwan, opened this week amid coronavirus pandemic, one of the first sporting leagues to do so.

So far, more than 2 million people have been infected by COVID-19 while in excess of 1.6 lakh individuals have lost their lives worldwide.

The match was being played without spectators to curb the spread of virus, however, the players themselves hit social distancing out of the park as they came to blows with benches getting empty in a matter of seconds.

The incident took place during the fourth innings when Rakunten Monkeys’ second baseman Kuo Yen-Wen was hit in the hip area by a snorter of a pitch from Dubon Guardians’ Henry Sosa.

The simmering tension had already been created before the fourth pitch as Sosa had sent three fast balls angled into the body of Yen-Wen. When the fourth pitch struck the baseman, benches of both the teams erupted as players collided near the diamond area.

“For our international viewers, you need to understand that this never really happens in the CPBL,” a commentator was heard as saying in the video uploaded on Eleven Sports Taiwan’s Twitter handle.

“It’s usually a very conservative league. They don’t even argue balls or strikes or outs very often.”

–IANS

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