Deng Chih-wei’s three-run blast off Hsu Wen-cheng capped an eight-run seventh that broke a two-all tie wide open as the Uni-President Lions went up by eight runs and held off a ninth-inning rally by the EDA Rhinos to finish 10-7 in Game One of the Taiwan Series at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
With the win, the Lions now take a 1-0 lead in this year’s Fall Classic.
The showdown between the first-half and second-half champs was supposed to be a slugfest, with both offenses having demonstrated their ability to light up the scoreboard during the regular season. However, the game proved to be anything but that as the two squads produced a two-all draw after six frames against the stellar pitching of Rhinos starter Matt Torra and his Lions counterpart, Nelson Figueroa.
Yet things would take a nasty turn south for the Rhinos in the decisive seventh after Torra was relieved by Lin Ying-jeh, who gave up consecutive singles to the Lions and was called for a balk to set up Lin Chih-shiang’s sacrifice fly, which gave the Lions a 3-2 lead.
The night got worse for Lin Ying-jeh, who served up a one-run double to the Lions’ Kuo Dai-chi to make it 4-2 before Chang “OEO” Tai-shan and Chen Yung-chi teed off against the Rhinos bullpen with back-to-back scoring swings to set the stage for Deng’s three-run shot.
Fortunately for the Cats, they would need every one of the three runs tacked on by Deng’s long ball as the diehard Rhinos showed exceptional resilience by plating a run in the eighth on the strength of a bases-loaded walk and exploded for four more runs in the top of the ninth that included a solo homer by Hu Chin-lung to make it a three-run game.
However, with the tying run at the plate and two on, and two outs in the top of the ninth, Lion closer Luis Vizcaino induced a grounder to second for the game-ending out that sealed the victory for the Lions.
Picking up the win was Figueroa, who pitched into and out of trouble early in the game with the help of two crucial double plays by the Lion defense before settling in to finish the seventh.
He allowed two runs on 11 hits to up his post-season record to a perfect 4-0.
Taking the loss for the Rhinos was Lin Ying-jeh, who failed to hold off the Lions despite his success against them during the regular season. He allowed three runs on as many hits in just 2/3 innings of play.
“I sent in Lin Ying-jeh in the seventh [to relieve Torra] because he has the best record against the Lions on our staff, but I guess that didn’t work out well for us,” Rhinos manager Tseng Chih-chan said after the game.
Lions outfielder Kuo Dai-chi also had a big game on both sides of the ball on the night, as he drove in a run on two hits and made a diving catch on defense that took away a potential RBI double from Hu in the top of the seventh.
“Dai-chi’s diving catch was one of the biggest plays in the game for us,” Lions skipper Chen Lien-hung said at the postgame press conference.
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
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
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
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
RSS