The CTBC Brothers yesterday took the opener of the Taiwan Series with a 5-3 victory over the Rakuten Monkeys at the Taoyuan International Stadium, with Dominican lefty Jose de Paula awarded the win after pitching seven innings.
The Monkeys sluggers hit three solo homers to account for their scoring, but the Brothers scored three runs in the top of the first inning and did not relinquish the lead, adding two more runs in the ninth.
The win gives the Brothers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series, the CPBL championship decider. Game 2 is to start at 5pm today, also in Taoyuan.
Photo: CNA
Monkeys catcher Lin Hong-yu blasted two solo homers in the fourth and ninth frames, while first baseman Chen Chun-hsiu smashed a dinger in the seventh to ignite the near-capacity crowd of more than 14,000.
However, it was not enough after the Brothers’ early offense against American starting pitcher Dylan Covey.
Designated hitter Chen Tzu-hao (one) and third baseman Huang Wei-sheng (two) brought three men home between them.
De Paula allowed four hits in seven innings, giving up two solo homers to make it 3-2.
He issued one walk and had two strikeouts.
De Paula gave way to set-up man Tsai Chi-tse, the Brothers’ most reliable closer this season.
The scoreline remained 3-2 until the ninth frame, when Brothers outfielder Chen Wei-chieh delivered a clutch hit against Monkeys reliever Chen Yu-hsun with two men on base to bolster their score by two runs.
In the bottom of the ninth, Lin slammed his second homer of the night against closer Lu Yen-ching, but the home team could not get another run.
Lu struck out pinch hitter Kuo Yen-wen to end the game.
The Brothers had 10 hits to five for the Monkeys, while the home side committed two fielding errors.
Covey was charged with the loss, giving up six hits for three runs, although only one was earned.
He had six strikeouts and four walks in 5-1/3 innings.
Games 3 and 4 are to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, the Brothers’ home ground, with both to start at 6:30pm.
If needed, games 5, 6 and 7 would be back in Taoyuan on Friday at 6:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 5pm.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
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
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS