Taiwanese rookie Lin Tzu-wei on Monday made history by getting a hit in his first at-bat in the US major leagues and played good defense to help the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins.
Only called up three days ago from the Red Sox’s Double-A affiliate the Portland Sea Dogs, the 23-year-old infielder got his first chance in the second inning.
The left-hitting Lin slapped a line drive into centerfield against Minnesota starting pitcher Jose Berrios and made it to first to the cheers of the Boston crowd at Fenway Park.
Photo: AP
“I still feel a little bit nervous, but after getting the first out, I knew there would be more coming the rest of the game,” Lin was quoted as saying by Boston media.
“I don’t want to think too much,” he said.
“I’ve picked up some confidence,” Lin said. “You don’t want to be overconfident. Just take it pitch by pitch.”
Boston manager John Farrell penciled Lin into the starting line-up as third baseman and ninth on the batting roster.
Farrell was quoted as saying that Lin “handled it extremely well tonight,” adding that he would play more this season, as he brings the advantage of a left-handed batter and has been reliable in defense.
Lin is the 13th Taiwanese to play in the US Major Leagues and became the first among them to get a hit in his first at-bat.
Taiwanese media reports said Lin made a patriotic statement by putting a decal of the Republic of China national flag on the knob of his bat, which is visible when he swings.
The Red Sox rookie ended the day one for three, striking out once, and made several good defensive plays at third.
He got a ground out in the opening frame and initiated a double play against in the seventh inning.
It was Lin’s third game since being called up, playing as a pinch-runner in his first game and as a defensive replacement late in his second.
Taiwanese fans and officials lauded Lin’s achievement.
They said his background was as an Aboriginal player of the Bunun community from a mountain village in Kaohsiung’s Namasiya Township.
In Cleveland, Ohio, Francisco Lindor, Lonnie Chisenhall and Carlos Santana each had three RBIs to help the Indians rally from 9-2 down in the fourth inning to beat the Texas Rangers 15-9.
The Indians scored a run in the fourth, four in the fifth, took the lead with five in the sixth and added three in the seventh.
Additional reporting by AP
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier