Steve Hammond tossed seven innings of one-run ball, despite giving up nine hits, while Lin Chih-sheng drove a pair of runs on a three-for-five effort as the Lamigo Monkeys went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls 4-1 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to clinch the weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
It was a big win for Hammond as he bounced back from a disappointing loss in his previous start (on Sunday last week), in which he served up seven runs to improve to 2-1 for the season.
As for Lin, the three hits on the day represented his ninth multi-hit game in the 15 games played thus far, upping his league-best hit total to 30 and counting.
“I guess I have been seeing the ball quite well as of late,” Lin said after the game.
His terrific start to the season has more than silenced his critics, who challenged his contribution to the team after he signed a five-year blockbuster deal with the Monkeys for more than NT$24 million (US$828,000) during the offseason.
The Monkeys trailed the Bulls during the first two innings as Hammond allowed a run in the opening frame on three hits before the Lamigo offense got to Sinon starter Lin Keh-chien with two runs in the third to claim a 2-1 lead.
They would double the lead to 4-1 with a run each in the fifth and sixth, courtesy of run-scoring singles by Kuo Sho-wei and Lin Chih-ping.
This lead stood the rest of the way, with Hammond holding his ground through the seventh before the Lamigo bullpen took over with two scoreless innings of relief to secure the win.
Taking the loss for the Bulls was Lin Keh-chien, who allowed two runs on six hits in four innings of play with minimal run support as he suffered his first defeat of the season.
ELEPHANTS 6, LIONS 2
The Brother Elephants avenged Saturday night’s tough loss to the Uni-President Lions with a 6-2 triumph over the Cats at the Pingtung County Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to take the three-game weekend set by an identical 2-1 margin.
Chang Cheng-wei’s tie--breaking liner to the left off Lion starter Dan Reichert put the Elephants ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second and they never looked back en route to a convincing 6-2 win.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the