Jang Won-sam pitched six innings of two-run ball and Shin Myung-chul homered on an eighth-inning Grand Slam to lift South Korea’s Samsung Lions past Australia’s Perth Heat in a 10-2 final in the opener of the Asia Series at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Even though the final score might suggest a blowout win for the Lions, the Perth Heat actually played their opponents quite hard through the fifth. They trailed the favored Lions by two runs (3-1) and managed to fall within a run of the Lions with a run in the top of the sixth before giving up seven unanswered runs over the final three frames to lose by eight.
“[The Heat] actually played a very good game against us, although the final score may suggest an easy win for us; there was definitely nothing easy about the win,” Lions manager Ryu Jong-li said after the game.
Australia’s top club managed to score first against Jang after two scoreless innings with a run in the top of the third, courtesy of Allan De San Miguel’s two-out double.
The 1-0 lead for the Heat lasted less than an inning, as the Lions answered with three runs in the bottom of the same inning when Park Sok-min connected on a two-run double off Heat starter Daniel Schmidt, followed by an error by the Heat defense that led to the Lions’ third run in the inning.
The 3-1 lead stood through the fifth, until De San Miguel went deep against Jang on a solo blast to left in the sixth that made it 3-2.
The Lions got the run back in the bottom of the sixth before erupting for six hits, including Shin’s Grand Slam off Heat reliever Warwick Saupold, in a six-run eighth.
Jang was credited with the win for his six solid innings of play, while the loss went to the Heat’s Schmidt, who lasted 5-1/3 innings of play with four allowed runs, two earned, on five hits .
UNI-PRESIDENT LIONS 2, SOFTBANK HAWKS 6
Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions trailed the defending champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan, in a 6-2 game through the eighth late last night in the opener for both teams.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS