Lee Seung-yuop’s three-run homer with two outs broke a 2-all tie wide open in the bottom of the eighth as the Samsung Lions shook off Italy’s Unipol Fortitudo 5-2 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to take the opener in this year’s Asia Series.
The showdown between the winners of last year’s European Cup and the recently crowned champs of South Korea’s Korea Baseball Organization competition went down to the wire before the electrifying swing by the veteran slugger put the Lions ahead for good.
“I am glad the homer kept the game from going into extra innings, [Fortitudo] are a much tougher team than people give them credit for,” Lee said after being named MVP.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
What should have been a relatively easy win for the Lions turned into a dog fight as Fortitudo struck first with a run off Samsung starter Jung Hyun-baek on the strength of a leadoff walk and a pair of singles in the top of the second before the Lions answered with a run of their own to tie it up at 1-all.
The Lions claimed their first lead of the game in the fifth when Hyung Sik-jung drew a one-out walk off Fortitudo starter Bobby Blevins, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Han Yi-park that made it 2-1.
The diehard Fortitudo made things interesting in the top of the seventh with a run that tied the game at 2-all and threatened to blow it open with one out and a pair of runner on. However, poor base-running by the Europeans led to an inning-ending double play to keep them from attaining a lead, setting the stage for Lee’s game-clinching blast an inning later.
Chang Min-sim was credited with the win for his 1-2/3 innings of relief while the loss was charged to his counterpart Filippo Crepaldi.
Shintaro Masuda’s bases-loaded single broke a 1-all tie in what ended up being a five-run eighth to lead Japan’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles past Taiwan’s EDA Rhinos in a 6-1 final in the night game in Greater Taichung yesterday.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
Italian Luca de Aliprandini described Saturday’s World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere as the hardest race of his life, coming two days after his Swiss partner Michelle Gisin suffered a heavy fall in training which required neck surgery. De Aliprandini finished 26th in the men’s event won by Loic Meillard, but the result paled into insignificance with two-time Olympic ski champion Gisin in hospital with injuries to her wrist, knee and cervical spine (neck). “It was Michelle’s wish that I race here. I couldn’t say no to her, but it was the toughest race of my entire life,” an emotional De
RSS