“King of Live Music” Wu Bai and his band China Blue are to bring their big hits to the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium on Sunday in a bid to help the Rakuten Monkeys pick up some hits to stay at the top of the CPBL table this season.
The Monkeys, who have so far this season had the most consistent pitching and hitting, are looking to become the first team in the league to reach 30 wins and clinch the first-half title next month.
The Uni-President Lions are three games back in second place, while the CTBC Brothers are in third and the Wei Chuan Dragons in fourth. Only the Fubon Guardians, who are 14.5 games back, are out of the running for the title.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Monkeys said in a statement this week that Wu Bai and China Blue are to perform following their contest against the Lions on Sunday. It is to be the finale of a three-day post-game “DZPX Party” sponsored by the Rakuten Group and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Co.
Since 1992, Wu Bai and China Blue have had many hits in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and Mandarin, with a huge following in Taiwan, China and Southeast Asia.
Wu Bai had big plans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of China Blue by staging a futuristic rock opera titled Road to Success (成功之路), but he earlier this month announced that all six concert dates this month at the Taipei Popular Music Center had been postponed to next year due to the local COVID-19 situation.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
As a result, Sunday’s engagement after the Monkey’s game would be the best chance for fans to catch Wu Bai live this year, he said.
It is to be the second time for Wu Bai and China Blue to perform in a baseball stadium after they played in support of the Monkeys on Nov. 13 last year.
On Wednesday, the Monkeys trounced the Lions 11-1 in Taoyuan.
Photo courtesy of Spacebomb Co via CNA
Baffling hitters with his side-arm delivery, Monkeys starting pitcher Huang “Tiger” Tzu-peng pocketed his fifth win of the season.
Sailing through seven innings, Huang yielded only one run on six hits and struck out five, lowering his ERA to 2.01.
The Monkeys pummeled Lions starting pitcher Hu Chih-wei and two subsequent relievers for 19 hits, scoring three runs in the second frame and six runs in the eighth to chalk up the victory.
In the day’s other contest, the Dragons caught fire in the fourth inning and went on to score six unanswered runs to best the Guardians 6-3 at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung.
American right-hander Jake Brigham notched his fourth win of the season, with a 2.29 ERA, after giving up six hits for three runs, allowing only one earned run, over seven innings.
Brigham has become known as the “Fubon Guardians Slayer” as he has never lost against the Guardians, and has a 0.90 ERA in games against them.
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
RSS