Shih Chih-wei’s two-out single with men on second and third capped a four-run seventh as the Lamigo Monkeys held off a late-game rally by the Sinon Bulls to escape with an 8-6 win at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon.
The clutch single not only ended up being the game--winning hit for the Primates, but also represented Shih’s 800th career base hit as the veteran infielder celebrated the milestone with a big “W” at home.
Lamigo wasted little time getting to Sinon starter Lai Hong-cheng as they plated two in the opening frame off the rookie lefty on the strength of an RBI single by Lin Hong-yu and a run-scoring error by the Sinon defense.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Monkeys doubled their lead to 4-0 in the third with Kuo Yen-wen’s sacrifice fly and Shih’s one-run double with two outs.
Trailing 1-8, the Bulls managed to pull within a deuce of the Monkeys with an explosive five-run eighth, highlighted by a three-run blast from Wang Hsin-min for his first round-tripper of the season.
However, it was too little too late as the Monkeys quickly sent closer Hsu Ming-jeh to the mound who got the final four outs of the game without giving his ground to make a winner out of starter Lenny DiNardo.
The American southpaw is now 3-0 to tie the Lions’ Yuya Kamada for most wins in the league.
Elephants 12, Lions 6
Scoring at least a run over the first five innings of play, the Brother Elephants doubled up on the Uni-President Lions in a 12-6 final at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday to avoid being swept by the defending champs.
Chang Cheng-wei tied the league record for most hits in a single game with five on the day to lead a previously anemic Elephant offense that teed off against the Lion pitching by erupting for 18 hits off four different Lions hurlers.
Even though the home Cats scored six runs on a dozen hits off the Elephants’ pitching in a slugfest, the outcome of the game was never in doubt as the Elephants cruised to an easy victory to nip a stressful five-game losing skid.
Guan Da-yuan was credited with the win for his 3-1/3 innings of scoreless relief, while Lions starter Chen Yi-chen was tagged with the loss for serving up three runs in less than two innings of play.
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
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five