The Lamigo Monkeys grabbed their third win of the season, defeating the Fubon Guardians 9-5 to stay atop the CPBL table, while the Uni-President Lions picked up their second victory, thrashing the Brothers Baseball Club 9-1 in yesterday’s games.
First baseman Chen “My Show” Chun-shou carried the Monkeys with a two-run homer to support US pitcher Zack Segovia, who notched his first win of the season.
Segovia — who has MLB experience with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals — gave up five runs on 10 hits through seven innings to make his record this season 1-1, while Fubon starter Huang Yi-chih was tagged with the loss, yielding eight runs on eight hits through six innings.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Lamigo second baseman Lin Chih-ping and outfielder Chu Yu-hsieng had two RBI’s each to ignite the offense, adding to the delight of home fans at the Taoyuan International Stadium after Chen’s homer.
For Brothers manager Cory Snyder it had been a good week prior to last night’s game, as his team picked up two wins after suffering two defeats to start the season last weekend.
Snyder, former star for the Cleveland Indians and LA Dodgers who retired after the 1994 season, was hired to revitalize the team.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
He is the first American manager in Brothers franchise history.
After the two opening defeats, there was talk of communication problems and reports that players were not used to his stricter rules, such as requiring the team to arrive at the ballpark at noon for evening games.
However, after team talks, the problems seemed to have been smoothed out, as the Brothers went on a winning run mid-week, beating the Guardians twice by one-run margins, 6-5 on Wednesday and 9-8 the following day.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, they were no match against the roaring Lions yesterday, with outfielders Chu Yuan-chun and Cheng Kai-wen blasting solo homers to lead Uni-President at the Sinjhuang Stadium in New Taipei City.
Chinatrust general manager Yang Pei-hung said that team problems had been sorted out, while he trusts Snyder to do a good job and lead the team to challenge for the title.
“Snyder wants to win, as he is a competitor, but we are early in the season and he was not so familiar with the facilities and conditions at the ballparks in Taiwan,” Yang said.
“Of course, the facilities and ballparks are different in Taiwan compared with the US and now we have advised him with more information,” Yang told reporters ahead of a game earlier this week.
“We see that Snyder has good time management and he expects the same from the players,” Yang said.
“He has set the rules for players to follow, but the team has held talks to discuss the details and have made some adjustments,” Yang said.
Friday’s games between Lamigo and the Guardians in Taoyuan and the Brothers against the Lions in Sinjhuang canceled due to rain.
A game between Lamigo and the Guardians in Taoyuan yesterday afternoon was also postponed due to water on the outfield.
Those games are to be rescheduled.
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