Mitch Talbot tossed seven innings of shutout ball, while Chan Chih-yao drove in two runs on a two-for-three night as the Lamigo Monkeys blanked the Chinatrust Brothers 3-0 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to pocket the all-important Game 1 of the Taiwan Series.
The former major leaguer made the most of his first post-season appearance in Taiwan by scattering five hits over seven effective innings while fanning four and walking one to lift the Primates past their foes in the opener, where the winners have gone on to take the title in nine of the past 10 seasons.
Other than a two-hit fourth in which he allowed a two-out triple with the bases empty to place a Brothers runner in scoring position, Talbot permitted only one Chinatrust runner to reach second, silencing a Brothers offense that finished off the second half in good form to earn a berth in the annual Fall Classic.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“[Talbot] had all his pitches working tonight, which made our hitters’ job much harder,” a frustrated Brothers skipper Hsieh Chang-hen said at a post-game press conference.
Talbot was not alone in getting the job done for the Monkeys, who showed off their leatherwork by turning two double plays in clutch situations to spoil two excellent scoring opportunities for the men in the golden uniforms.
The first of the two handy double plays came right before Talbot allowed the triple to the Brothers’ Hsu Chi-hung in the top of the fourth, which would have surely scored a run for the visitors to tie the game at 1-all at that point, while the second one came in the eighth before a single that would have scored another run to make it a one-run lead for the Primates.
Photo: CNA
Doing the damage at the plate for the victors was Chan, who continued his 17-for-52 hitting (.327) over the final 15 regular-season games by collecting a pair of RBI singles to lift his team past the Brothers.
“I’d like to thank the fans for coming out here to cheer us on. That’s the best motivation for us,” Chan said after the game to a near-sellout crowd of 19,000 upon receiving the game-MVP award.
A failure to come up with timely hits was to blame for the Brothers, who actually tied the Primates in total hits with six, but none with runners in scoring position.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Brothers also failed to convert a potential double play when shortstop Wang Sheng-wei bobbled a wild throw from reliever Chiang Chung-cheng in the eighth to set up the Monkeys’ third run in the game.
Picking up the win was Talbot, while the loss was charged to Brothers starter Chris Cody, who allowed two runs on five hits in as many innings.
In Game 2, the Brothers are to send 11-game winner Cheng Kai-wen to the mound to take on the Monkeys’ Wang Yi-cheng, with the opening pitch scheduled for 5:05pm this afternoon.
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