The Lamigo Monkeys rode the red-hot bat of slugger Lin Chih-sheng, who homered for the fourth time in the past two days to baffle the Uni-President Lions 9-7 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to sweep the three-game set on the road.
“It was a great way to end the weekend,” Lin said, referring to his ninth-inning blast which came the day after his first career three-homer game the night before.
He is now four homers shy of the EDA Rhinos’ Kao Kuo-hui, whose 30 round-trippers are second to none in the league.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Neither starting pitcher managed to hold the opposing hitters in the early going, with Wang Yi-cheng of the Monkeys and the Lions’ Liao Wen-yang allowing five runs each through the fifth, before the Primates claimed their third lead of the game at 4-3 in the sixth when Wang Po-jung singled off Liao and scored two batters later on Lin Chih-ping’s liner.
The opportunistic Lamigo offense jumped all over the Lions’ pitching in the seventh with Chen Guan-ren’s solo shot leading the way, before Wang capped off the night with a three-run triple that gave the visitors a 8-3 lead.
Trailing by five at that point, the Cats got a pair of runs back in the seventh and the ninth to make it a two-run game and actually had the bases loaded in the ninth with one out before Monkeys closer Lin Po-yo fanned two in a row to strand three in a close finish.
BROTHERS 4, RHINOS 0
The Chinatrust Brothers made it two wins in a row by blanking the EDA Rhinos in a 4-0 shutout at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night to take the weekend series.
Lin Wei-chu’s pinch-hit double off Rhinos starter Ni Fu-te with the runner on second broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh, before Huang Shih-hao followed with an RBI single that scored Lin to make it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.
That set up back-to-back solo blasts from Chang Chih-hao and Chiang Chih-hsien off reliever Shen Yu-chieh an inning later as the Brothers doubled their lead to conclude the scoring.
Chinatrust starter Bryan Woodall picked up win No. 3 since joining the team a month ago with eight brilliant innings of four-hit ball, before ace closer Chen Hung-wen pitched a scoreless ninth to keep the shutout intact.
“We didn’t do anything different today, it was just a great team win all around,” Woodall said after being named Most Valuable Player.
Falling victim to an anemic offense was Ni, who took a three-hit shutout one out into the seventh before succumbing to the Chinatrust hitters in a game he could have won on another night.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
RSS