Scoring early and often, the Uni-President Lions humbled the Lamigo Monkeys in a 9-0 shutout at Taipei’s Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to close out an otherwise disappointing first half on a high note.
The win not only nipped a four-game slide for the Lions, but also avenged a three-game sweep by the first-half champs last week in which the Lions were outscored by a combined total of 16-4 on the road.
HOPEFUL
Even though they would settle for a league-worst mark of 26-33-1, a half-game behind the third-place Chinatrust Brothers, skipper Chen Lien-hung is hopeful that his troops can still have a strong second half.
“It is a big win for us because I am starting to see a lot of our players making improvements and turning their game around,” Chen said after the game.
Heading his list of such players was starter Doug Mathis, who bounced back from a pair of losses with five scoreless innings to pick up his fourth win of the year.
Despite giving up seven hits, the right-hander from the University of Missouri managed to pitch out of trouble on several occasions to hand a 9-0 lead to his bullpen after five.
Lin Chih-hsiang led off the bottom of the first with a single off Monkey starter Wang Yi-cheng, stole second and scored on Luo Kuo-lung’s RBI single to give his team a quick 1-0 lead.
The Cats plated their second run of the inning on Chou Kuan-sheng’s sacrifice fly after an error had helped load up the bases before plating three runs in the bottom of the second to grab a comfortable 5-0 lead.
After Fang Chang-yung’s run-scoring single off reliever Cheng Cheng-hao made it 6-0 in the third, the Cats delivered the knockout blow in the fourth with three more runs, highlighted by Liu Fu-hao’s two-run blast off Monkey reliever Wang Fong-hsin to claim a commanding 9-0 advantage.
SHUTOUT INTACT
That was more than ample for the Lion bullpen, who sent three hurlers to hold the Primates scoreless over four solid innings of two-hit relief to keep the shutout intact.
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Monkeys the game as they batted a dismal 0-for-8 with runners in scoring positions to have no runs to show for the nine hits they mustered off the Lions pitching.
Wang was charged with his third loss of the season for the four runs he allowed on two hits and three walks in one-plus innings of play. He is now 8-3 for the year.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was