EDA Rhinos captain Hu Chin-lung (胡金龍) became the 10th player in CPBL history to hit for the cycle in a game against the Lamigo Monkeys.
On Thursday last week, Hu smacked his 11th homer, helping the Rhinos thrash the Monkeys 14-5 at Kaohsiung’s Cheng Ching Lake Stadium.
He registered a double in the first inning, later adding a triple and a single, then completed the cycle with a home run in the eighth frame.
“The hit in the sixth inning was first ruled as an error, but later a teammate told me that officials had changed it to a hit single. I am elated about the record, but it is more important that the team won,” Hu said.
Hu’s teammate Lin Yi-chuan was the first Rhinos player, and the eighth in CPBL history, to accomplish the feat, on May 10, 2012. The Chinatrust Brothers’ shortstop Wang Sheng-wei also achieved the stunt, on July 31, becoming the ninth CPBL player to do so.
Thursday’s other encounter between the Uni-President Lions and the Brothers made the record books for its longevity. It was tied up at five runs each in the sixth inning, but there was no further scoring through extra-innings.
The game was ended after the 12th inning at 12:12am on Friday, 5 hours, 38 minutes after it started at 6:34pm on Thursday, becoming the longest game this season and the third longest in league history. It was the latest finishing time for a game in CPBL history.
Also last week, the CPBL players’ union called for a boycott of the Premier 12 international competition organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, which is scheduled to be held in November and co-hosted by Taiwan and Japan.
As head of the players’ union, Hu issued the call, a direct challenge to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.
The main issue was said to revolve around financial demands, with the players’ union calling for guarantees of increased appearance fees, portraiture rights and better insurance policies to protect against injuries.
“We do not have good insurance programs for players compared with the US and Japan. So an agreeable system for insurance should be set up for the national squad. We must also receive guarantees from Premier 12 organizers and sponsors regarding appearance fees,” Hu said.
Games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday were canceled due to Typhoon Soudelor, which resulted in flooding of several ballparks. The contests have been rescheduled.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to