Avenging Saturday’s late-inning collapse that led to a tough loss, the Lamigo Monkeys swept the day-night doubleheader against the Sinon Bulls yesterday with a 3-2 win in the afternoon and a 9-5 triumph last night to clinch the weekend series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
In the afternoon game, Wang Fong-hsin took a 3-0 shutout into the eighth, before surrendering a run to the Bulls and watching his bullpen give up another run in the ninth, before Huang Chin-chih finally got Cheng Jau-han to fly out to right with the tying run on second to preserve the win for the starter.
It was the first “W” that Wang has recorded in more than three months, the last dating back to June 7.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Bulls starter Lin Chen-hua pitched well enough for a win, with three allowed runs on as many hits over six innings of work, but he was forced to settle for the loss as Wang was just a tad better on the day.
In the nightcap, the Primates actually had to rally from three down with a three-run fifth, highlighted by a bases-clearing three-run double by Chen Guan-ren to lead it 6-4, before the eventual 9-5 result.
Lin Jia-wei was credited with the victory for his 4-2/3 innings of one-run relief, while the loss went to the Bulls’ Lin Chi-wei, who wasted a rare lead spotted by his offense to lose his 14th game of the year.
Elephants 8, Lions 6
Chou Si-chi’s two-run blast to right off Uni-President Lions reliever Lee Wei-hua gave the visiting Brother Elephants an 8-6 lead in the top of the ninth which they held on to at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
In a seesaw battle that featured four changes of lead, it was the Cats who struck first with four quick runs in the opening frame off Elephants starter Lin Yu-ching, but the four-run lead proved insufficient for normally sure-handed starter Yuya Kamada, who allowed the Elephants back in the game and some more, before being chased after the sixth.
That gave Elephants reliever Guan Da-yuan the opportunity to pick up his second win in as many days, improving the right-hander’s record to 11-3.
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
Spanish champions Barcelona opened their Spanish La Liga campaign on Saturday with an island cruise as they played almost an hour against nine men on their way to a 3-0 victory in RCD Mallorca. Barcelona’s second-half stroll did not please coach Hansi Flick. “They’re three important points, but I didn’t like the match,” he told broadcaster Movistar. “After going two goals up and following Mallorca’s two red cards, I think the team only gave 50 percent, and I didn’t like that,” he said. “Playing at 50 or 60 per cent is not possible against nine players.” Two of Barcelona’s Ballon
Manchester City signaled their intent to take back the English Premier League title as Erling Haaland struck twice in a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to begin their campaign. After four consecutive titles, City finished a distant third last season as Pep Guardiola’s men failed to win any trophy for the first time in eight years. New signings Tijjani Reijnders, who was the star of the show at Molineux, and Rayan Cherki were also on target to give Guardiola hope his side would be back in the title race this season. “We knew he is a top signing
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