Mike Loree pitched seven innings of shutout ball in a two-hit gem, Lin Wang-wei homered to drive in a pair of runs on a two-for-three night and the EDA Rhinos held off a ninth-inning rally by hosts the Uni-President Lions to escape with a 5-4 win at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
Mike Loree’s pitching was one of the most dominating efforts by a starter in a season opener in recent years, giving the US righty an auspicious start that was worthy of the game’s MVP honor.
Equally impressive was Lin, in his professional debut, who made a genius out of skipper Von Joshua for starting the slugger at centerfield to provide his club some much-needed offensive power after their dismal third-place finish in the regular season last year.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
The road Rhinos needed little time solving Lion starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-lun, as they ripped a double and a single off the veteran right-hander for a pair of runs in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless third, the visitors struck again on the strength of Lin’s two-run blast off Du Du that made it 4-0.
Even though Pan managed to navigate through the sixth without further damage, the seventh inning was not as kind to him as he served up EDA’s fifth run of the game on a clean double to Hu Chin-lung that scored the runner from second to give the Rhinos a seemingly safe 5-0 lead.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The seventh-inning run proved to be the difference in the game, with hosts the Cats finally breaking through with four runs off Rhino closer Luo Chia-ren, and actually had the tying run in scoring position before Luo struck out Liu Fu-hao to preserve the win.
Five different Rhino hitters had multi-hit games on the night, with Lin leading the way.
Picking up the win was Loree, while the loss was charged against Pan who allowed five runs (only three earned) on 10 hits over seven frames to lose his first start of the year.
BROTHERS 6, MONKEYS 14
The Lamigo Monkeys avenged their bitter loss to the Chinatrust Brothers in the season opener the night before by roughing up the men in the golden uniform in a 14-6 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to split the weekend series against the Brothers with one win apiece.
Six runs by the hosts in the bottom of the first set the tone early in the contest, as the hitters on both teams had little trouble against the pitching.
By the time all was said and done, 20 runs had crossed the plate on 31 combined hits, four of which were homers.
Lin Po-yo was credited with the win for his five innings of one-run relief, while the loss went to Brother starter Cheng Chi-hung, who allowed six runs on four hits over just two-thirds of an inning’s work in a disappointing start.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS