Mike McClendon tossed seven innings of four-run ball and Chou Si-chi homered for the second time in seven days as the Chinatrust Brothers toppled the EDA Rhinos 9-6 at Kaohsiung’s Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium last night to avoid a three-game sweep on the road.
Three second-inning runs by the visitors quickly erased a 0-1 deficit in the first, with Hsu Chi-hung and Chang Chih-hao knocking in a run each on top of a wild pitch by EDA starter Gaby Hernandez that scored the runner from third.
The Brothers doubled their run total with three more in the third when Chou led off the inning with a solo blast off Hernandez before Chen Chia-chui and Pan Ting-hsiang singled in a run each to give Chinatrust a 6-2 lead.
After a two-run fourth that made it 8-2 in favor of the Brothers, the home hosts finally solved the solid pitching of McClendon in the bottom of the sixth when Cheng Chau-hang and Lin Cuen-sheng knocked in a run each, with a single and a double respectively to keep it a four-run game.
EDA kept the game interesting in the bottom of the eighth with Lin Yi-chuan homering off Brothers reliever Hsieh Rong-hao to pull within three and place runners on first and second to bring the tying run at the plate. However, that was close as they got as Hsieh calmly retired the next two batters he faced to strand a pair and end the Rhinos’ scoring threat.
McClendon picked up his eighth win of the season, improving to an 8-2 mark, while the loss was charged against Hernandez, who served up eight runs (six earned) on 13 hits over seven innings to even his season record at 3-3.
MONKEYS 3, LIONS 2
The Lamigo Monkeys took advantage of nearly three innings of perfect relief by their bullpen to hold off the Uni-President Lions 3-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to take the three-game home stand by a 2-1 margin.
Kao Kuo-ching’s RBI groundout scored Lin Chih-hsiang, who led off the game with a standup double to give the Cats a quick 1-0 lead, only to see the home Primates answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the same inning when Yang Yao-hsun legged out an infield single off Lions starter Wang Ching-ming and score two batters later on Lin “Chubby Kid” Hung-yu’s double.
After a scoreless second, the Monkeys offense struck again when Chen Chung-hsiu came up big with a two-out single to score the runners from second and third, giving his team a 3-1 lead.
Monkeys starter Hsu Ming-chieh regrouped in a hurry after allowing a run in the first by blanking the Lions offense from the second through the fourth before giving up the second run of the game on a solo shot to Liu Fu-hao.
The Lamigo bullpen took over to preserve the win for Hsu.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about £2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported £400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported £400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported £900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically