Mike Loree pitched seven innings of shutout ball in a two-hit gem, Lin Wang-wei homered to drive in a pair of runs on a two-for-three night and the EDA Rhinos held off a ninth-inning rally by hosts the Uni-President Lions to escape with a 5-4 win at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
Mike Loree’s pitching was one of the most dominating efforts by a starter in a season opener in recent years, giving the US righty an auspicious start that was worthy of the game’s MVP honor.
Equally impressive was Lin, in his professional debut, who made a genius out of skipper Von Joshua for starting the slugger at centerfield to provide his club some much-needed offensive power after their dismal third-place finish in the regular season last year.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
The road Rhinos needed little time solving Lion starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-lun, as they ripped a double and a single off the veteran right-hander for a pair of runs in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless third, the visitors struck again on the strength of Lin’s two-run blast off Du Du that made it 4-0.
Even though Pan managed to navigate through the sixth without further damage, the seventh inning was not as kind to him as he served up EDA’s fifth run of the game on a clean double to Hu Chin-lung that scored the runner from second to give the Rhinos a seemingly safe 5-0 lead.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The seventh-inning run proved to be the difference in the game, with hosts the Cats finally breaking through with four runs off Rhino closer Luo Chia-ren, and actually had the tying run in scoring position before Luo struck out Liu Fu-hao to preserve the win.
Five different Rhino hitters had multi-hit games on the night, with Lin leading the way.
Picking up the win was Loree, while the loss was charged against Pan who allowed five runs (only three earned) on 10 hits over seven frames to lose his first start of the year.
BROTHERS 6, MONKEYS 14
The Lamigo Monkeys avenged their bitter loss to the Chinatrust Brothers in the season opener the night before by roughing up the men in the golden uniform in a 14-6 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to split the weekend series against the Brothers with one win apiece.
Six runs by the hosts in the bottom of the first set the tone early in the contest, as the hitters on both teams had little trouble against the pitching.
By the time all was said and done, 20 runs had crossed the plate on 31 combined hits, four of which were homers.
Lin Po-yo was credited with the win for his five innings of one-run relief, while the loss went to Brother starter Cheng Chi-hung, who allowed six runs on four hits over just two-thirds of an inning’s work in a disappointing start.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
Taiwan’s world No. 6 shuttler Chou Tien-chen yesterday defeated India’s H.S. Prannoy to advance to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Changzhou. It was former world No. 2 Chou’s eighth win in 14 matches against Prannoy, who had earlier this week lamented the age divide between him and up-and-comers, although he is only two years younger than 35-year-old Chou. The Taiwanese, who is seeded sixth at the tournament, rebounded from a close 21-18 loss in game 1 on Court 2 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. He bounced back to take the next games 21-15, 21-8 and set up a tough quarter-final
The Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday acquired Taiwanese-American outfielder Stuart Fairchild from the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations to fill the roster after All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe was placed back on the injured list. Fairchild was designated for assignment by the Braves on Monday after hitting .216/.273/.333 in 28 games for Atlanta, with most of his work coming as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. He joins Tampa Bay as a versatile fourth outfielder option. To make room for Fairchild on the 40-man roster, the Rays transferred relief pitcher Manuel Rodriguez (forearm strain) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day