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.
Photo: Getty Images via AFP
“It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so I might have been a bit too excited in my first inning,” the right-hander said after the game. “After settling down, I told myself to stay calm and pitch as usual and that made me feel more comfortable in the next two innings.”
Teng replaced starting pitcher Cristian Javier with two outs and a runner on third base.
He walked Jorge Soler on four consecutive balls and then allowed the runner to score on a wild pitch, which was charged as Javier’s sixth earned run of the game, with Soler advancing to second.
It was not until his seventh pitch — a 153kph four-seam fastball — that Teng threw his first strike, getting Yoan Moncada to ground out, ending the inning.
Teng allowed just one hit — a single by Oswald Peraza in the seventh — but retired the next three batters, including 11-time All-Star Mike Trout, to end his outing. Nineteen of Teng’s 39 pitches were strikes, with his fastball topping out at 153.9kph.
Teng credited his teammates for keeping the offense going despite the early struggle to score.
“It’s my first time pitching for the Astros,” he said, adding “I’m grateful that our offense didn’t give up and kept scoring.”
After scoring three runs in the fifth, the Astros erupted for eight more in the sixth on five hits, three walks, a wild pitch and a throwing error. Angels reliever Walbert Urena took the loss after allowing six runs on four hits and two walks, none earned.
With Saturday’s win, the Astros moved up to 1-2.
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