The struggling EDA Rhinos bounced back from back-to-back blowout losses to the Uni-President Lions with a 5-2 triumph in the weekend’s finale at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung last night to avoid being swept by the Cats at home.
The win also nipped a five-game slide for the Rhinos, who properly celebrated slugger Kao Kuo-hui’s record-extending 35th homer of the season one day after he had broken the eight-year-old mark for the most homers in a season (33) set by the Lions’ Tilson Brito in 2007.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and tremendous honor to be able surpass a great player like [Tilson Brito],” Kao said after the game.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
The 30-year-old soft-spoken slugger has his eyes on the 40-homer plateau with 11 games remaining in the regular season.
Hu Chin-lung’s two-run double capped a three-run second inning for the Rhinos, who greeted Lions starter Wang Ching-ming with three extra-base hits (all doubles) in the inning to set the tone early in the game.
The Rhinos tacked on another run in the third on the strength of Kao’s solo blast off Wang that made it 4-0, before plating their fifth on a sacrifice fly by Kao in the bottom of the seventh.
Rhinos starter Andy Sisco pitched perfect ball through three and took a one-hit shutout two outs into the eighth, before giving up a two-run home run to the Lions’ Chu Yuan-hsun to lose the shutout bid.
The American lefty earned his fifth victory of the season along with the Most Valuable Player honor for his gutsy effort.
Taking the loss was Wang, who allowed five runs (four earned) on nine hits over six frames, while fanning seven and walking none in a contest that would have been closer if it were not for Sisco’s spectacular effort.
MONKEYS 11, BROTHERS 6
Homers by Lin Chih-sheng and Kuo Yen-wen sparked an eight-run scoring spree from the third inning through the fifth for the Lamigo Monkeys as they took a sizeable lead and held off a late-game rally by the top-ranked Chinatrust Brothers to escape with an 11-6 win at a rain-drenched Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night.
The victory gave the Primates a clean sweep in the three-game series that saw them humble the Brothers’ pitchers by plating nearly 10 runs per game to pull within 3.5 games of the league leaders.
Pat Misch made the most of his seventh start with the Monkeys by tossing one-run ball on two hits over six innings to pick up win No. 5.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB