The EDA Rhinos kept their playoff hopes alive with a 9-8 win over the Lamigo Monkeys on Wednesday evening.
The victory marked the Rhinos’ third in four games to leave them trailing the third-placed Primates by 0.5 games in the standings as of yesterday morning in a tough struggle to climb out of the cellar.
“The Rhinos have simply too much talent and power to be counted out of post-season play,” commentator Chung Chung-tsai said earlier in the week.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Chung was referring to the trio of former major leaguers in the Rhinos’ ranks — Luo Chia-jen (Houston Astros), Hu Chin-lung (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Lin Che-hsuan (Boston Red Sox), who have returned to their homeland to close out their careers.
While Hu and Lin have done their part at the plate with .382 and a .289 batting averages in their third and first CPBL seasons respectively, Luo has not been as consistent in his first full season as the Rhinos’ closer, having blown eight of 31 save opportunities reach a 2-5 mark and a generous 5.31 earned run average.
Wednesday night’s narrow victory was case in point as Luo entered in the ninth with a three-run lead and allowed two runs on three hits before retiring the final Monkeys batter to barely save the game.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
“The batters are getting more used to his velocity and tendencies,” Chung said regarding Luo’s recent outings.
“That is where Luo is getting hurt the most,” Chung said.
Luo had relied on his 150kph-plus fastball to get him out of trouble in the past, but hitters across the league are making the necessary adjustments to “catch up” with his signature pitch.
“Luo must mix up his pitch selections a bit more, because the hitters are cheating a little bit and looking [for fastballs] on fastball counts,” Chung said.
As long as the hitters are guessing right more often than not, Luo might lose his effectiveness as a closer.
Knowing the adjustments that the hitters have made against him, Luo needs to do the same with his pitch selections to keep opposing hitters on their toes just enough to keep his job for the rest of the season.
The Rhinos take on the Chinatrust Brothers in a three-game series to start tonight at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, while the Monkeys face the Uni-President Lions at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS