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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS