Scoring early and often, the Lamigo Monkeys roughed up the Uni-President Lions in a 7-0 shutout at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to sweep the three-game home stand over the weekend.
Wang Yi-cheng continued his dominance on the mound with another fine effort on the night, going the distance for the hosts in a four-hit gem with no walks to help the defending champions ascend into a three-way tie with the Brother Elephants and the EDA Rhinos atop the standings.
Other than a fifth-inning double by the Lions’ Kao Guo-ching, the lefty who spent four seasons with the Yokohama BayStars before returning to Taiwan this year did not allow another Lions runner in scoring position.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“It’s great to be able to help our team win again,” Wang said in an interview after being named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
His continued success will give the Monkeys’ rotation a much needed boost as they look to make a serious run for the second-half title down the home stretch.
Back-to-back base hits by the Primates off Lions starter Wang Ching-ming to start the bottom of the first led to a pair of early runs for the hosts, before they added to the lead by a run with an RBI single by Kuo Sho-yen in the third.
The Monkeys increased their lead by two in the fifth and the eighth innings to blow the game wide open, dealing the feeble Cats their third straight defeat, dropping them 2.5 games back in the standings.
Taking the loss for the Lions was Wang Ching-ming, who allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits in five innings of work for a 6-2 record this season.
RHINOS 8, ELEPHANTS 1
The EDA Rhinos also claimed their weekend series in northern Taiwan against the Brother Elephants with an 8-1 triumph at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
Newcomer Matt Torra improved to 4-1 for the season with seven gutsy innings of one-run ball on four hits to lead the first-half champions past the Elephants.
The mid-season addition to the Rhinos rotation has paid great dividends for skipper Hsu Sheng-ming, with four quality starts in five chances to provide some added stability to the Rhinos’ pitching.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB