Lan Ying-luen’s two-run triple jumpstarted the Lamigo Monkeys’ offense in a three-run third as they rallied from an early 0-1 deficit with five unanswered runs and held on tooth and nail to defeat the Chinatrust Brothers in a 7-4 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to sweep the three-game weekend series.
It was the second straight night that the rookie slugger had driven in two or more runs to help the Primates humble their opposition following Saturday night’s three-RBI outing.
Also starring for the Monkeys was Kuo Yen-wen, who homered on a three-for-four effort with a pair of RBIs to lead the home squad past the visitors in a solid victory.
Starter Mitch Talbot of the US made his Taiwan debut a memorable one with six innings of one-run ball on five hits and as many strikeouts to keep the Brothers hitters at bay.
Trailing by five to start the top of the ninth inning, the Brothers managed to score twice off Hsu Ming-chieh to chase the Lamigo veteran hurler, who was supposed to close out the game to give regular closer Miguel Mejia the night off.
However, with a tying run at the plate, Mejia was forced to enter the game with minimal warm-up and still induced a comebacker that he caught to end to game for his team.
LIONS 3, RHINOS 1
Miscues by the EDA Rhinos defense at the critical juncture of the game proved costly as they surrendered the go-ahead runs to the Uni-President Lions in the decisive eighth to lose 3-1 at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night.
Back-to-back wild throws by the Rhinos infield on an infield single by Liu Fu-hao with two outs scored the runner from second to break a 1-all tie before the Lions sealed it with an RBI single from Deng Chih-wei to take a 3-1 lead that stood to the end.
The win not only avenged a narrow loss to the Rhinos for the Cats the night before, but also clinched the three-game set over the weekend for them as they look to climb out of the cellar in the standings to make a serious run for the post-season.
Lin Chih-hsiang’s two-out single with a runner on third gave the Lions a quick 1-0 lead that lasted less than an inning as the Rhinos returned the favor with a run of their own in the bottom of the same inning on the merit of Lin Yi-chuan’s two-out single to tie the game at 1-all.
That was all the runs that either team would plate over the next four innings, with starters Wang Ching-ming of the Lions and Victor Garate for the Rhinos holding their ground to set the stage for the Lions’ late-game heroics.
Picking up the win was reliever Fu Yu-kang, who tossed two innings shutout ball for his sixth win of the year.
Taiwan last night defeated Cuba 2-0 in their World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 Group B game at the Taipei Dome and finished the group second. At the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, South Korea yesterday defeated Australia 5-2, while Japan last night won 11-3 against the Dominican Republic. On Sunday, Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome to advance to the Super Round. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champions and Group B winners Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome last night to advance to the Super Round of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 tournament. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champion and Group B winner Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the off. After taking a walk to first base, Taiwan’s Chen Chieh- hsien (陳傑憲) then stole second before Tseng Song-en (曾頌恩) drew a walk to first in the top of the first inning. Chen then
TWO-NIL LOSS: Taiwan’s best chance to score came at the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but Venezuela’s Liarvis Breto got out of the jam Taiwan yesterday suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome. Taiwan had seven hits, one more than Venezuela’s six, but catcher Carlos Perez’s two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured victory for Venezuela. Taiwan’s best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuela reliever Liarvis Breto struck out Chen Chen-wei before reliever Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin