Lee Seung-yuop’s three-run homer with two outs broke a 2-all tie wide open in the bottom of the eighth as the Samsung Lions shook off Italy’s Unipol Fortitudo 5-2 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to take the opener in this year’s Asia Series.
The showdown between the winners of last year’s European Cup and the recently crowned champs of South Korea’s Korea Baseball Organization competition went down to the wire before the electrifying swing by the veteran slugger put the Lions ahead for good.
“I am glad the homer kept the game from going into extra innings, [Fortitudo] are a much tougher team than people give them credit for,” Lee said after being named MVP.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
What should have been a relatively easy win for the Lions turned into a dog fight as Fortitudo struck first with a run off Samsung starter Jung Hyun-baek on the strength of a leadoff walk and a pair of singles in the top of the second before the Lions answered with a run of their own to tie it up at 1-all.
The Lions claimed their first lead of the game in the fifth when Hyung Sik-jung drew a one-out walk off Fortitudo starter Bobby Blevins, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Han Yi-park that made it 2-1.
The diehard Fortitudo made things interesting in the top of the seventh with a run that tied the game at 2-all and threatened to blow it open with one out and a pair of runner on. However, poor base-running by the Europeans led to an inning-ending double play to keep them from attaining a lead, setting the stage for Lee’s game-clinching blast an inning later.
Chang Min-sim was credited with the win for his 1-2/3 innings of relief while the loss was charged to his counterpart Filippo Crepaldi.
Shintaro Masuda’s bases-loaded single broke a 1-all tie in what ended up being a five-run eighth to lead Japan’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles past Taiwan’s EDA Rhinos in a 6-1 final in the night game in Greater Taichung yesterday.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS