The Uni-President Lions held off a three-run rally by the Chinatrust Brothers in the bottom of the ninth to escape with a 4-3 win at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night, sweeping the weekend’s three-game series.
Boof Bonser got the Brothers’ Wang Sheng-wei to fly out for the game-ending play, which kept the men in the golden uniforms from turning the tide on the Cats, who won their third straight game by a run.
The US righty, who entered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, managed to redeem himself after giving up a two-run double to Chinatrust’s Chen Chiang-ho that cut the Lions lead to a solitary run.
Photo: CNA
The showdown between the Lions’ Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen and Brothers newcomer Chris Cody saw the Cats drawing first blood after three scoreless innings, when Luo Kuo-lung tripled off Cody and scored on Pan “TAKE” Wu-hsiung’s three-bagger on the next play that made it 1-0 to the visitors.
The Cats extended their lead by two in the fifth, with a run-scoring single from Luo following an RBI groundout by Liu Fu-hao that put them ahead 3-0.
After three scoreless frames, the Lion offense scored their fourth run of the game when TAKE homered off reliever Wang Tzeh-chun, which proved invaluable because it represented the margin of victory, with the Brothers rallying for three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Picking up his fifth win of the season with 8-2/3 innings of three-run ball on six hits was Du Du, who took a shutout two outs into the ninth before loading up the bases and surrendering a run, which prompted skipper Chen Lien-hung to bring on Bonser.
Tagged with the loss was Cody, who suffered his first defeat of the season in his third start for the Brothers. The southpaw from the US allowed three runs on eight hits over seven innings.
RHINOS 7, MONKEYS 1
The resurgent EDA Rhinos claimed a three-game road sweep of the Lamigo Monkeys with a win at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night, thanks to a solid Taiwan debut by newcomer Victor Garate of Venezuela.
Other than allowing the Monkeys’ lone run in the bottom of the third on a pair of hits, Garate was well on top of his game as he cruised through the sixth without further damage before being pulled after 105 pitches.
Offensively for the Rhinos, the night belonged to Chang Chien-ming and Hu Chin-lung, who combined for five RBIs on as many hits to account for the bulk of the team’s run production.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that