The Lamigo Monkeys yesterday defeated Brothers Baseball Club 4-2 in Game 4 of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Taiwan Series, with fans celebrating as they clinched the championship at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
It was the fifth championship crown for the franchise, having won in 2006 — as the La New Bears — and in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
The series only went to four games, with the Brothers taking the first encounter 8-5, but Lamigo fighting back to dominate the next two games 14-5 and 19-3 before last night’s clincher.
Lamigo’s lefty starter Wang Yi-cheng, who this season is 9-7 with an ERA of 4.60, faced off on the mound against the Brothers’ American right-hander Bryan Woodall, who is 13-8 with an ERA of 3.63.
After a scoreless first inning, Monkeys designated hitter Lin Hung-yu led off the second with a solo homer off Woodall, followed by shortstop Lin Cheng-fei scoring a runner on a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, outfielder Chang Chih-hao sent Wang’s fastball sailing over the right-field wall for a solo home run, reducing the deficit to 2-1.
Both sides failed to score any further runs until the sixth frame, when Lamigo first baseman Chen Chun-hsiu added one with an RBI single, followed by Lin Cheng-fei belting out a double for another to increase the visitor’s lead to 4-1.
Wang and Woodall were pulled at the end of the sixth inning, with Wang taking the win, as he gave up only one run on three hits and struck out six.
Woodall yielded four runs on four hits and two walks, but fanned seven batters.
The Brothers narrowed the gap to 4-2 in the seventh frame, when Chang blasted his second homer of the night off Lamigo’s second pitcher, Chu Chun-hsiang.
In the ninth, Lamigo called up closer Chen Yu-hsun, who broke a CPBL record this year with 37 saves.
Although he allowed two runners on base, he struck out Brothers catcher Huang Chun-sheng for the final out.
Separately yesterday, benched Brothers veterans Lin Chih-sheng and Chiang Chih-hsiang announced that they would play in the Australian Baseball League next season.
Lin Chih-sheng is reportedly to sign with the Brisbane Bandits, while Chiang is to join the Sydney Blue Sox as both attempt to extend their playing careers following a disciplinary scandal.
Both seem to have lost their place with the Brothers after last month’s revelations of disciplinary problems involving them and three other players.
The two reportedly led insubordination against the Brothers’ American manager, Cory Snyder, while there have also been allegations of extramarital affairs.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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