The TSG Hawks on Friday ended a three-game skid and secured their first win of the season in their home opener, defeating the Rakuten Monkeys 4-3 in a walk-off win after Jhang Jhao-yuan’s two-RBI single.
Two outs away from their fourth straight loss, the Hawks strung together three consecutive hits to turn the game at Chengching Lake Stadium in Kaohsiung.
After Wang Po-jung singled off Monkeys closer Chen Bo-hao, Steven Moya — the CPBL’s top home-run hitter last season — ripped a double down the right-field line, putting two runners in scoring position for Jhang.
Photo: CNA
Behind in the count 2-2, Jhang connected on a 145kph fastball, sending a grounder past shortstop Ma Chieh-sen, who was shallow and could not make the stop.
Wang and Moya scored, sealing the walk-off victory.
Jhang, who had gone hitless in his first three at-bats, said that he was nervous stepping into the box, afraid he might fail to bring the runners home.
Photo: CNA
“I calmed myself down when I thought about how I had veteran teammates like Wu Nien-ting behind me,” the third-year catcher said. “So I just went up there and swung aggressively.”
That swing earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player award in front of 15,487 fans.
The win also gave relief to Hawks manager Hung I-chung, who avoided his first 0-4 start since taking the reins in 2004.
Photo: CNA
Hung is the only manager to record 1,000 wins in the CPBL’s 36-year history.
Monkeys starter Jonathan Bermudez allowed one run — a homer by Moya in the second — over 5-2/3 innings, while Hawks starter Bradin Hagens, who played for the Monkeys from 2021 to 2023, gave up two earned runs in six innings.
Lin Shi-xiang picked up the win after keeping the Monkeys off the board in the ninth. Chen took the loss, giving up two earned runs in the final frame.
The Monkeys dropped to 0-3 and remained the only CPBL team without a win this season.
They failed again last night to score their first victory, losing 4-2 in game 2 of the three-game series.
In the other results yesterday, with the games finishing just before press time last night, the Wei Chuan Dragons trounced the Fubon Guardians 11-3 at Taipei Tianmu Stadium, while the CTBC Brothers won 4-3 in 10 innings against the Uni-President Lions at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium.
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