The Lamigo Monkeys’ Chu Yu-hsien on Saturday broke a 30-year Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) record for half-season home runs after hitting two and pushing the grand total to 22.
The 27-year-old first baseman hit a three-run homer in the third inning and a two-run homer in the eighth inning to lead the Monkeys to an 11-4 win over hosts the Fubon Guardians at New Taipei City’s Xinzhuang Stadium.
Monkeys manager Hong I-chung called Chu’s performance “monstrous,” while Chu said that he hoped to maintain the momentum in the season’s second half.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The previous record of 21 home runs in a half-season was set in 1996 by Denio Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic, who played for the now-disbanded China Times Eagles.
CPBL teams at the time only played 100 contests per season, whereas today’s teams play 120.
In 2015, the Guardians’ Kao Kuo-hui set the record for home runs in a single season with 39.
Chu also leads the league with a .394 batting average, 95 hits and 73 RBIs — a rare achievement for a player who was a fourth-round pick in the 2015 draft.
The Monkeys on Tuesday last week won the CPBL first-half season title, making them eligible for post-season competition.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
His team were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in agonizing fashion on Tuesday, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) human statue Michel Kuka Mboladinga would be remembered as the tournament’s most remarkable supporter. The colorfully dressed Kuka has earned fame as the fan who stands completely immobile throughout his team’s games, looking toward the sky with his right arm raised and palm open. He has become a media star and on Tuesday was accompanied by a delegation of several hundred Congolese supporters whose trip to Morocco was paid for by the country’s government. They took their
RSS