The Brothers Baseball Club yesterday leveled the CPBL Taiwan Series at one win each after a see-saw battle, scoring two late runs to edge the Lamigo Monkeys 6-5 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
The lead changed hands several times early on due to both teams starting offensively, but the Brothers eventually prevailed with the victory when closer Chen “Little Flying Knife” Hung-wen shut the door to hold the Monkeys scoreless in the final two frames of a tight contest.
Both teams again chose imported talent to start the game, with former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mike McClendon starting for the Brothers and former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Cesar Valdez for the Monkeys.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Brothers rattled Valdez right away by jumping to a quick three-run lead in the first inning, with the big damage inflicted by former Boston Red Sox prospect Chiang Chih-hsien’s two-run homer.
In the third inning, the Brothers added another when Chou “The Chairman” Ssu-chi ripped a double to the wall to drive in another run to extend their lead to 4-0.
The Monkeys got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning on Lamigo RBI-leader Lin “Big Brother” Chih-sheng’s line drive to get a runner on third home.
One batter later, the Monkeys looked poised to pick up more points with the bases loaded and only one out.
However, McClendon extricated himself from the dangerous situation by getting Chen “My Show” Chun-shou to fly out and Wang “The King” Po-jung to hit a groundout.
As they had in the series opener on Saturday, the Monkeys, trailing 4-1, rallied in the fourth inning.
After the Lamigo batters loaded the bases against McClendon on three hits, outfielder Yang Yao-hsun drove in two runs with a single and another runner made it home on a wild pitch to tie up the game at 4-4.
Swinging a hot bat, Lin slammed a double to bring home the Monkeys’ go-ahead run, ending the inning at 5-4 and chasing out McClendon, who was replaced by Tu Chia-ming.
The scoreboard remained static until the seventh frame, when Brothers outfielder Chang “The Flower” Cheng-wei managed an RBI single to tie the game again at 5-5.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Brothers once again managed to get ahead. With runners at the corners, Hsu “Golden Bomber” Chi-hung hit a grounder that netted the Monkeys a double play, but the runner on third made it home to make it 6-5.
The Monkeys then had a potential rally in the making in the bottom half of the inning, when they loaded the bases against the fifth Brothers pitcher, Chen Hung-wen.
However, the Monkeys were unable to get any more traction against Chen Hung-wen, as pinch-hitter Chen “Little Airplane” Kuang-jen hit into a double play and Yu Te-lung hit a fly ball for the third out.
In the ninth, the Brothers closer let a runner get as far as second base, but did his job as closer and managed to get the final two batters out in order to seal the victory.
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
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS