Taiwanese baseball star Yu Chang on Saturday snapped a 0-for-28 drought with a two-run homer and delivered a go-ahead, two-run single after the Los Angeles Angels’ Matt Thaiss was called for his second catcher’s interference (CI) in the eighth inning, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 9-7 comeback win.
“It’s just a matter of gaining confidence,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Chang. “He made a comment that when he was [at the World Baseball Classic, WBC] how confident he was playing. Then he comes here and it gets harder. We understand that.”
Rafael Devers added his seventh homer, a two-run shot, and Rob Refsnyder drove in two runs for Boston.
Photo: AFP
Gio Urshela hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, and Mike Trout added three hits with his 300th career double for the Angels, who were sloppy in a 5-3 loss in the series opener.
The 31-year-old Trout became the fourth in MLB history to reach 300 doubles, 300 homers and 200 stolen bases by his age, joining Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.
Shohei Ohtani had two singles, with his second pushing the Angels ahead 7-6. He extended his on-base streak to 36 games, the majors’ longest current active stretch.
Thaiss had his CIs in three batters to help Boston load the bases in the eighth against Ryan Tepera (1-1) before Chang drove his single to the left. Tepera walked Refsnyder with the bases loaded.
“It is rare,” said Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire, who was the second CI. “It doesn’t happen that much, but it does happen when the hitter is seeing the ball deep, trying to go the other way. That’s typically when it happens.”
Chang did not make a hit in his first 16 at-bats over the previous nine games this season, during which he recorded seven strikeouts, and reached the base only three times on a walk.
That slump finally ended with his homer in a three-run fourth inning that pushed Boston ahead 6-4.
“That’s the guy we saw in WBC. He was MVP [Most Valuable Player] of Pool A,” a play-by-play broadcaster said of the 27-year-old Taitung native.
Chang said it was a relief to get that first hit, which ended an MLB slump dating back to Sept. 22 last year.
“I’m so happy that the team gave me that consistent opportunity to play every day, even though I didn’t hit well in the beginning,” Chang said through a translator. “What the coaches expressed to me is [that] they don’t want me to think about the past. They want me to do the same routine and have the same consistency and grab any opportunity you have coming.”
Chang on Saturday also made MLB history as the only player to record four RBIs after entering a game 0-for-15 or worse with 0 RBIs in a season since 1920, when RBIs became an official stat, wrote OptaSTATS, a Twitter account of sports data firm Stats Perform.
Visa issues delayed Chang’s participation in the Red Sox’s spring training, and he only played in two warm-up games before the start of the season.
Cora said he remained confident in Chang.
“We’ve been talking about the MVP of Pool A, you know, just be Yu,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS