Taipei Dome holds closed-door games ahead of long-awaited opening

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Baseball was played for the first time at the Taipei Dome Tuesday, with four teams from Taiwan's top amateur league facing off in a closed-door double-header.

Players and coaches praised the environment of the stadium, which saw Taipei Highwealth play New Taipei Heran in the morning followed by Taiwan Cooperative Bank and Xports in the afternoon.

Taipei Highwealth coach Huang Chin-chih (黃欽智), a former player in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), said the stadium felt comfortable overall and he heard many positive comments from the players.

Believing that it was impossible to have every detail right in place all at once, Huang said adjustments would be made based on opinions collected after the games.

New Taipei Heran pitcher Hung Hsin-chi (洪心騏) said the overall environment inside the dome was great and the dugout and the bullpen were both comfortable.

Hung, who was brought into the game in the eighth inning with a runner on first base and struck out three while yielding one run on one hit, suggested that more clay be placed behind the pitcher's mound to stop pitchers from losing their footing when performing pick-offs.

Hung added that the color of the stadium's roof and seats, which are gray and white, may make it difficult to track fly balls.

Hung's Taiwan Cooperative Bank counterpart Wu Sheng-feng (吳昇峰) also noted that seating in other stadiums tended to be darker to prevent players from losing sight of the ball.

Wu, who pitched for Taiwan WBSC Premier 12 in 2019 at the Tokyo Dome, also made note of the lack of clay behind the mound.

While he did not play Tuesday, Wu said that his teammates had told him the grass in the outfield was a bit too soft and might lead to outfielders twisting their ankles.