A big home run by the Lamigo Monkeys’ Liu “Doraemon” Shih-hao dominated sports headlines in Taiwan and also drew the attention of a Major League Baseball (MLB) writer, while the Monkeys were seeking to maintain their winning ways in the CPBL, going to extra innings in their game against the Brothers Baseball Club at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium at press time last night.
In the second contest of a double-header against the Fubon Guardians in Taoyuan on Sunday evening, the home side won 6-5 in dramatic fashion.
The Monkeys trailed 3-4 late in the eighth inning, but had runners on the corners, prompting Lamigo manager Hung Yi-chung to call upon reserve catcher Liu to pinch hit.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Liu pulled the trigger on the first pitch, sending it over the rightfield fence for a three-run homer that put his team into the lead.
Footage of the hit showed Liu going down on one knee in his follow through and coolly flipping the bat away, with the MLB’s Cut 4 Web site featuring the clip.
MLB writer Adrian Garro praised it as “perhaps one of the most authoritative bat flips to ever be flipped.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Liu “connected on an inside pitch and sent a baseball deep into the night while falling to a knee and flipping his bat in a way that almost seems as if his bat flipped itself out of his hands, pleased by its hard work,” Garro said.
“Yes, it felt great the moment I hit the ball, although the pressure was on me at the time,” Liu said after the game. “When I got the call to pinch hit, I just wanted to make contact and made a contribution. That first pitch was a strike, so I gave it a good swing, thinking that if I failed, at least I tried.”
“That was a good move” to call for Liu to pinch hit, Hung said. “I had an intuition that he would connect, although I was looking at just getting one run in, but he surprised me by blasting it for a three-run homer.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Home runs and extra-base hits have been a key component of Lamigo’s wins and designated hitter Lin Hung-yu smashed a two-run dinger in their home game yesterday as the Monkeys sought a sixth straight victory.
On Tuesday, Guardians’ stars Lin Che-hsuan and Lin Yi-chuan were reportedly at odds as they fell to their sixth consecutive defeat.
They lost 9-5 to the Uni-President Lions at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.
Outfielder Cheng Kai-wen slammed a three-run homer to help the Lions to the win in their first game of the season at their home ground.
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