Chang "Red Monkey" Jia-hao's (
The five-year veteran who is known for more his stellar defense in the outfield than for his offense made the Lions pay for underestimating his hitting ability after intentionally walking the batter before him. Chang delivered the clutch hit that gave the Bulls their first ever Chinese Professional Baseball League title.
PHOTO: CPBL
"It's not the number of hits that matters -- it's when you can deliver the key hit," Chang, the unanimous choice for the game-MVP honor, said after the game.
"I was given the opportunity to be the MAN and I'm glad I was equal to the task."
After winning the first two games of the series, the Bulls lost three straight to the Lions before taking Game 6 in a 3-2 thriller to force the decisive Game 7.
As if that was not exciting enough, the seesaw battle in the title game featured three lead changes before the sold-out crowd witnessed the crowning of the new league champions.
The game started with the Bulls jumping to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on shortstop Cheng Jau-han's (
Then came the big cats who scored four times in the next two innings, capped by rookie slugger Kao Guo-ching's (
Pinch hitter Tseng Hua-wei (
The Lions fought back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on center fielder Huang Kang-lin's (
As in last year's league championship series against the Brother Elephants, Bulls ace righty Yang Jien-fu (陽建福) found himself the last person standing on the mound in the final game of the season -- only this time, he walked off as the game winner instead of the pitcher who had surrendered the series-clinching hit to help the Elephants win their third straight title.
Yang was credited with the Game 7 victory for his two innings of scoreless relief work.
From his game-saving strikeout in the last game of the regular season that put the Bulls into the championship series to his three-hit effort over seven strong innings in the series-opening win, his determined start in Game 4 on a three-day rest, his 1-2/3 innings of gutsy relief pitching in Game 6 (despite suffering from a bruised left knee), and ultimately the victory in Game 7, the selfless second-year standout answered nearly every challenge he encountered for the well-deserved Most Valuable Player honor for the series.
"The victory says it all," Yang said after he was presented with the series-MVP trophy. "No matter how hurt and tired I was, I wanted to win so badly I would do whatever it took to win."
Yang and Bulls' skipper Liu Rong-hua (
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
English Premier League pair Mohamed Salah and Lyle Foster were match-winners on Monday as Egypt and South Africa began their Africa Cup of Nations Group B campaigns with victories in Morocco. Liverpool star Salah struck in the first minute of stoppage-time to snatch a 2-1 win for record seven-time champions Egypt over gallant Zimbabwe in Agadir. Earlier, second-half dominance by one-time title-holders South Africa paid off when Burnley striker Foster netted on 79 minutes to deliver a 2-1 victory over Angola in Marrakesh. The stage is now set for a top-of-the-table showdown between the Pharaohs and Bafana Bafana in Agadir on Friday. They
RSS