The Rakuten Monkeys last night returned to their winning ways on the back of two-homer hero Chu Yu-hsien as they trounced the Wei Chuan Dragons 11-0 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium to take a 3-2 lead in the Taiwan Series.
The visitors have a chance to finish off the Dragons in Game 6 today with another win, which would clinch the best-of-seven series.
Dominican right-hander Pedro Fernandez turned on one of the best Taiwan Series performances of the past few years with a dominant pitching performance.
Photo: CNA
Fernandez fanned 13 batters through eight innings, allowing five hits and one walk.
His 13 strikeouts equaled a record for the most in a CPBL finals.
Mercury Tigers pitcher Tu “Big Train” Hong-chin also achieved the mark in 1990.
It was a night to forget for the Dragon’s American starter Jake Brigham, who was tagged for seven hits, including a home run, and charged with six runs.
He exited in the fourth, a rarity for him this season.
Monkey’s left fielder Chu, known as the “Dimple Cannon,” showcased his team’s potent offense when he belted a solo homer off Brigham in the second frame to open the scoring.
In the next inning, third baseman Liang Chia-jung drove two runners home with a bouncer through the right side.
Their red-hot bats could not be stopped and in the next inning, the Monkeys piled on three runs on four hits, with a double by shortstop Lin Cheng-fei and a sacrifice bunt.
The Monkeys were 6-0 after four innings and added another run in the fifth.
Dragons ace pitcher Wang Wei-chung, a former Oakland Athletics player who is known as the “Dragon King,” was rocked by the Monkeys’ batters, with Chu smashing a two-run homer off him.
Wang was replaced, but still the Monkeys were not done as they moved into double digits in the seventh inning.
It was a disappointing outing for Wang, whose ERA ballooned to 31.5 in the series.
The Monkeys sent in lefty Chen Kuan-yu, a former pitcher with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.
He finished off the Dragons in the ninth.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS