Taking advantage of a critical mistake by the Lamigo Monkeys defense, the Uni-President Lions overcame an early deficit with a three-run sixth to run away with a 3-2 road win at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night in the opener of this year’s Taiwan Series.
Kao Chih-kang’s grounder to short in the sixth with runners on second and third would have represented the inning-ending out and kept the Lions leading 2-1, but it was mishandled by Monkeys shortstop Chang Jia-hao, which allowed the runner on third to score and gave the Big Cats a 3-1 lead.
The error proved costly for the Primates as the Lions held a potent Monkeys attack to just one more run the rest of the way to preserve a narrow 3-2 win.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
While the offenses for both teams took the spotlight in the weeklong pregame hype leading up to the opener, with the showdown between the league’s top two home run hitters— Lin Hong-yu of the Monkeys and Kao Guo-ching of the Lions — being the center of attention, it was the defense that actually turned out to make the difference in the game.
“We played a very good defensive game with some outstanding glove work,” Lion skipper Lu Wen-sheng said in the postgame interview.
His Lions pack took away at least a couple of runs from the Monkeys with three key defensive plays, the first being a diving catch by centerfielder Liu Fu-hao in the top of the third that negated a run for the Monkeys, the second being a great grab by game-MVP Chen Yung-chi, who took away a run-scoring double from Tsai Jien-wei playing at third to replace an injured Chang Tai-shan and finally Kao Guo-ching’s over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory in the ninth recorded the Monkeys’ second out in the ninth.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Doubles by Kuo Shu-wei and Tsai off Lions starter Seth Etherton gave the Monkeys a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
The score remained at 1-0 through the fifth with Monkeys starter Ken Ray keeping the Lions offense off the board despite allowing at least a hit in four of the first five innings.
Ray’s luck would finally ran out in the sixth as he served up three straight singles to load up the bases in the sixth inning, before Chang Tai-shan and Chen Lien-hong drove in the Lions’ first two runs with a single and an RBI-groundout that made it 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
Etherton was credited with the win for his five solid innings of play, allowing a run on six hits while fanning five and walking one.
As for the Monkeys, Ray was tagged with the loss, falling victim to a shaky defense that committed a pair of errors in the game.
Today’s Game
Game 2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium is scheduled for 5pm with the Lions sending Dan Reichert to the mound to take on the Monkeys’ Bryan Corey.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
RSS