Ken Ray tossed 8-2/3 innings of one-run ball, Chung Cheng-yo and Chen Yen-fong drove a run each and the Lamigo Monkeys went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls in a 2-1 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The victory not only improved Ray’ season mark to a team-best 3-0, but also upped the Monkeys’ league-leading record to 13-6 to maintain a one-game lead over the second-place Uni--President Lions.
The rain-filled match between the two clubs saw neither starter allow a run through the first five frames, with Ray retiring the side in order in three different innings in a two-hit gem, while the Bulls’ Lin Ying-jeh held his ground and gave up only four hits.
That changed in the sixth as the home Monkeys led off the bottom of the sixth with Kuo Hso-wei’s single and scored three batters later on Chung’s opposite-field single to right to take a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless seventh, the Monkeys tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Chen beat out a bases-loaded grounder for an infield single that scored the runner on third, making it 2-0.
That was the difference in the game as the Bulls rallied for a run in the ninth on the strength of Hsu Guo-long’s two-out single off Monkey closer Hsu Ming-jeh, but failed to score the tying run from third when Lin Cuen-sheng popped out to center to end the game.
Hsu Ming-jeh was credited with his seventh save in as many games for getting the final out to preserve the win for Ray, while Lin was tagged with his fourth loss of the year despite pitching eight innings of two-run ball (only one run earned) in an eight-hit effort.
Failure to come up with a hit with runners in scoring position proved costly for the Bulls as they batted a collective 1 for 5 with men in scoring position, leaving too much on the table to garner a very winnable game.
LIONS 1, ELEPHANTS 0
Liu Fu-hao’s walk-off single to shallow-center with a runner on second broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 11th as the Uni--President Lions edged past the Brother Elephants 1-0 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium last night to even the series with the Elephants at one win apiece.
It was Liu’s first career walk-off hit, adding to the veteran outfielder’s long list of accomplishments over a seven-year span and counting.
Chang “OEO” Tai-shan had the chance to play the hero of the game as he came to the plate with runners at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Elephant starter Orlando Roman.
However, the holder of the new league record for most career games (1,424) hit the ball off the head of his bat, which resulted in an inning-ending flyout, setting the table for Liu’s extra-inning heroics.
Picking up the win with 1-1/3 innings of hitless relief was Hsu Yu-wei, who entered in the top of the 10th to take over for an injured Lin Yueh-ping and retired all four of the batters he faced to beat his counterpart Lee Fong-hua, who pitched a perfect 10th, before surrendering the game-winner in the 11th.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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