Lin Chih-hsiang’s bases-loaded grounder to short scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th after it was mishandled by EDA Rhinos shortstop Lin Wei-en to see the Uni-President Lions edge the Rhinos 6-5 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night and close out their regular-season home stand on a high.
“I am glad I was able to help our club win the game and I’d like to thank the fans for their support,” Lin Chih-hsiang said after he was unanimously voted game MVP.
His timely hit not only put a welcome exclamation mark at the end of an otherwise disappointing season for the Lions, who will miss out on the post-season, but also bailed the side out after they squandered a ninth-inning lead to force the game into an extra session.
Also starring for the Lions was Liu Fu-hao, who homered for the 11th time this season with a towering shot over the left-center wall to score three runs in the bottom of the first.
Even though the Cats came out ahead in the end, the diehard Rhinos did not submit quietly, but put up a big fight by plating a run in the eighth and ninth against the Lions bullpen to deny starter Liao Wen-yang the chance to net an 11th win that would have seen him share the top spot for total wins with the Rhinos’ Freddy Garcia and Chinatrust Brothers standout Cheng Kai-wen.
Hu Chin-lung’s two-run blast off Liao following Chang Chien-ming’s leadoff single gave the visitors a quick 2-0 lead before Rhinos starter Huang Sheng-hsiung even took the mound.
Yet the lead lasted less than an inning as the Cats repaid the favor with interest by ringing off three runs against Huang on one thunderous by Liu that made it 3-2 in a hurry. The Lions padded their lead by two in the third on an RBI single by Liu, before drawing a bases-loaded walk off Rhinos reliever Yang Chien-fu.
Trailing by three, the Rhinos fought back with a run in the fifth off Liao before plating a run off his successors, Lin Yueh-ping and Fu Yu-kang, in the eighth and ninth respectively to tie the game at five-all and set the stage for Lin Chih-hsiang’s game-winning swing.
Picking up the win was Lions reliever Chiou Tzu-kai, who tossed 2-1/3 innings of no-hit ball to beat Rommie Lewis.
TITLE CAMPAIGN: The victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019 The stage is set for the Taiwan Series after the Rakuten Monkeys on Monday beat the Uni-President Lions 4-3 in Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series in Kaohsiung. The Monkeys, who entered the top of the ninth scoreless, tied the game with a three-run blast by Lin Chih-ping and scored the winning run in the 10th on an RBI single by Lin Li, a three-time batting champion in the CPBL. Both players entered the game as pinch hitters. “The coach told me to stay prepared as a pinch hitter in the later part of the game. My teammates had
Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen was crowned the men’s singles champion at the Arctic Open on Sunday, after defeating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 13-21, 21-19. The 35-year-old Chou, who is ranked world No. 5, and the 24-year-old Vitidsarn, ranked world No. 3, battled it out for one hour and 17 minutes in a grueling three-game match at Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland. In the first game, Chou took an early 9-7 lead and maintained his momentum, widening the gap, before defeating Vitidsarn 21-11. At the start of the second game, the two players were neck-and-neck. When Vitidsarn pulled ahead
The Ministry of Sports on Wednesday night called for the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) to address issues in Taiwanese soccer after national manager Huang Che-ming on Tuesday resigned following Taiwan’s elimination in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Taiwan on Tuesday were thrashed 6-1 by Thailand in their Group D tie at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Taiwan finished with no points, after losing all four of their matches, eliminating them from qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Huang made his surprise resignation at a post-match news conference, following three losses since he took over the team from English coach Gary White in August. Huang
HIT AND RUN: Toronto manager John Schneider got his wish that his team ‘find some slug in the air out here,’ as the Blue Jays combined to total 611m of homers Tired in Toronto, the Blue Jays slugged in Seattle. Vladimir Guerrero Jr and George Springer on Wednesday woke up the Jays, as Toronto hit five home runs to rebound from an early deficit, routing the Mariners 13-4 and closing to 2-1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). Toronto had 18 hits — all within the first three pitches of each at-bat. “If they give us a first pitch, the pitch that we’re looking for, we’re going to attack and we’re going to be aggressive,” Guerrero said. Seattle starter George Kirby gave up eight of the hits. “I wasn’t really executing when they got
RSS