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.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
Mikel Merino on Sunday scored a hat-trick as a majestic Spain thumped Turkey 6-0 away in World Cup qualifying, while a brilliant Florian Wirtz free-kick helped Germany beat Northern Ireland 3-1 to get their bid up and running. European champions Spain were in unstoppable form in the central Turkish city of Konya, claiming their second biggest-ever away win in World Cup qualifying as Arsenal midfielder Merino scored his first professional hat-trick. Barcelona playmaker Pedri Gonzalez opened the scoring inside six minutes and later completed the scoring, with Ferran Torres netting the visitors’ other goal. The quality of Merino’s strikes was remarkable, with his
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
RSS