Makeup action continued in the Chinese Professional Baseball League with the Lamigo Monkeys overcoming a two-run deficit in the sixth to edge past the Sinon Bulls in a 4-3 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The win nipped a two-game losing skid for the Monkeys, who had fallen out of contention for the first-half title with a 4-8 mark in their last dozen, but more importantly it injected a big boost of confidence as they look to close out the first half on a high note this coming week.
“The injuries have definitely hurt us in the last few weeks, but that’s all part of the game,” Lamigo manager Hung Yi-chung said after the game.
His team has missed the services of sluggers Chen Chin-fong and Lin Chih-sheng, going 4-8 during a span without them.
Sound pitching on the part of both starters, Lin Ying-jeh for the Bulls and Scot Drucker for the Monkeys, kept the opposing offenses scoreless through the first four frames even though the Monkeys were able to load the bags against Lin in the bottom of the fourth without plating any runs.
That would change in the fifth as Su Jien-rong drew a two-out walk off Drucker and scored two batters later to give his team a hard-earned 1-0 advantage.
Sinon doubled their lead an inning later with Lin Yi-chuan and Wu Tsong-jung leading off the inning with back-to-back singles off Drucker to set up Wang Hsin-min’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Held scoreless for six innings despite placing runners on third on four different occasions, the home Monkeys finally broke through in the seventh on Shih Chih-wei’s clutch single with the bases loaded to plate a pair of runs that knotted the game at 2-all.
That was the spark that the Monkeys hitters needed as they came up with two more hits in the eighth against Sinon reliever Chen Huan-yang and took advantage of his successor Chang Geng-hao with two runs on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to take a 4-2 lead.
Trailing 4-2, the Bulls managed to score once in the top of the ninth with two singles and a sacrifice fly off Lamigo closer Hsu Ming-jeh.
That was as close as they got as Hsu calmly induced a grounder to first with two outs and the tying run on third for the game-ending out.
Hsu was awarded with his second win of the year for his 1-1/3 innings of one-run relief, while the loss went to Chen, who gave up two runs on four hits and a walk to fall to a 3-4 mark for the season.
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS