The Chinatrust Brothers rode the right arm of Wang Tzu-an, who tossed seven shutout innings of four-hit ball to blank the Lamigo Monkeys 6-0 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave Chinatrust a 2-1 edge in the north’s weekend series, but it also improved their season record to 4-3, good enough for second place in the standings.
After the Monkeys missed a golden scoring opportunity in the top of the first in which they stranded two at the corners, the hosts went to work against Ramon Garcia by plating three off the Monkeys starter in the bottom of the second to grab an early 3-0 lead.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
The men the golden uniforms made it 4-0 in the bottom of the third on the strength of Chou Si-chi’s two-out double, a score that stood through the sixth with neither lineup managing to produce offensively against Garcia and his counterpart Wang.
Chinatrust finally strung together a single and a double to set up Lin Wei-chu’s two-run single in the seventh that extended their lead to 6-0, before the bullpen took over, with Lin Keh-chien pitching a scoreless eighth and closer Guan Da-yuan following up with a perfect ninth to keep the shutout intact.
Picking up his first win of the season was Wang, while Garcia was charged with the loss for serving up all six of the Brothers’ runs on 13 hits over seven frames in his first loss of the year.
LIONS 6, RHINOS 5
Kuo Dai-chi’s clutch single off Lo Chia-jen with a runner on second scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth for the Uni-President Lions as they rallied from as many as three down with four unanswered runs to top the EDA Rhinos 6-5 at Kaohsiung’s Chengching Lake Baseball Stadium last night.
In a game that was all-Rhinos for the most part through the sixth inning, the visitors finally roared back with two runs in the eighth when Mai Chia-yi and Chen Yung-chee connected on RBI singles off setup man Lin Yi-hao and closer Lo respectively to tie the game at 5-5.
That was the game-breaker as Kuo managed to rise to the occasion by delivering the knockout blow in the ninth to keep the Rhinos from sweeping the three-game home stand over the weekend.
Pan “Du Du” Wei-lun was credited with his first win of the year after allowing five runs (only two earned) on nine hits over eight solid innings, while Lo was tagged with the loss for coughing up the lead in the eighth, before allowing the game-winner in the ninth.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
Sean Dyche on Thursday achieved in his first game with Nottingham Forest what predecessor Ange Postecoglou could not in eight matches in charge: Win. Under its new coach, Nottingham Forest presented a concentrated display resulting in a 2-0 victory over Porto in the UEFA Europa League. It was the first victory for Nottingham in the competition and only the second overall this season, while Porto were defeated for the first time this season. Morgan Gibbs-White converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute at the City Ground in West Bridgford, England. Igor Jesus doubled the advantage from another penalty in the 77th
RSS