Tseng Chao-hao pitched eight-plus innings of one-hit ball, Kuo Yung-wei drove in a pair of runs on a 2-for-4 night as the last-place Lamigo Monkeys humbled the Uni-President Lions in a 4-0 shutout at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to take the weekend series on the road.
It was by far Tseng’s best outing of the year as the veteran righty took a no-hitter into the ninth, before the Lions’ Liu Yu-cheng bounced a hard grounder just beyond the reach of a diving Kuo for the Cats’ first hit of the game, breaking up Tseng’s no-hit bid.
“It’s one of those games where you hope for [a no-hitter], but really don’t expect it,” Tseng said after the game.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Even though he missed out on the no-hitter, he still pocketed the shutout victory and his first win of the year.
Lan Ying-lung’s solo homer off Lions starter Chiang Cheng-fong in the top of the first spotted Tseng a 1-0 lead.
The 1-0 lead soon became 2-0 in the fourth when Kuo Yen-wen also connected on a long ball off Chiang for his sixth round-tripper of the year.
Even though Chiang pitched the next three frames without giving up another run, the damage had already been done as the 2-0 score lasted deep into the contest with Tseng on top of his game before the Monkeys offense tacked on two more runs in the ninth to conclude the scoring.
Chiang suffered his second loss of the year, despite pitching seven solid innings of two-run ball on seven hits in a quality start.
RHINOS 6, BROTHERS 3
The EDA Rhinos took care of business in their visit to the Chinatrust Brothers last night as they topped the men in the golden uniforms at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium to take the series.
Freddy Garcia showed no signs of slowing down, taking a 4-1 lead two outs into the eighth before being pulled in his third straight quality start. The former Major League player has quietly won three in a row after dropping two earlier in the month to improve to 9-6 for the season. Other than a solo home run that he surrendered to Chen Tzu-hao in the fifth, he made sure every one of the three runs were hard-earned by the Lions.
Offensively for the Primates, four different players had multi-hit games, led by Lin Wei-ting’s 3-for-5 effort with an RBI.
Trailing by three with Garcia running up his pitch count, the Brothers managed to score twice in the eighth to make it 4-3.
That was as close as they got, as the Rhinos bullpen took over with 1-1/3 innings of shutout ball to preserve the win for Garcia.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
RSS