Losing Game 1 to the CTBC Brothers 10-4 in the Taiwan Series opener on Saturday was a tough blow for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, but the potential loss of Gu Lin Ruei-yang for the game and the series might have been even worse.
In a rematch of the 2021 Taiwan Series, the fireballer was pulled at the beginning of the fourth inning due to back tightness, after tossing three scoreless innings before a sellout crowd in the 40,000-seat Taipei Dome.
Gu Lin felt tightness early in the game, with signs appearing as early as the second inning when he walked Tseng Song-en, Uni-Lions manager Lin Yueh-ping said after the game.
Photo: CNA
“He is [being checked] in the hospital now. We will re-evaluate his condition when he comes to the field tomorrow, but we have to extend the series first to give him a chance [to take the mound again],” Lin added.
Gu Lin, 24, led the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) with a 1.66 ERA over 21 starts. His 10 wins made him the only Taiwanese player among the 10 starting pitchers in the CPBL with double-digit wins.
Prior to Game 1, much attention had been paid to Gu Lin, who is widely expected to sign a contract after this season with an overseas franchise in the US or Japan.
Gu Lin’s early exit with the Uni-Lions leading 3-0 proved decisive, as the Brothers scored at least one run in the next three innings, including seven runs in the sixth inning that gave them an insurmountable lead.
In contrast, Brothers starting pitcher Jose de Paula rebounded from a disastrous first inning, in which he gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. The Dominican lefty shut out the Uni-Lions over the next six innings to be named the game’s most valuable player.
“The first inning was a bit chaotic, but I didn’t give up and always told myself to keep going,” De Paula said via an interpreter.
It was the Brothers’ ninth straight victory over the Uni-Lions in the Taiwan Series. The opening game win in the best-of-seven series also gave the team a 77.8 percent chance to capture this year’s title, said Blue Wei, an anchor for ELTA TV.
The next two games being played in the Taipei Dome would also help the Brothers, if past performance holds true.
While the Brothers played the league’s most games there with a league-leading .679 winning percentage, the Uni-Lions have played in the indoor baseball stadium only six times and recorded the league’s lowest winning rate there.
In its five games against the Brothers at the dome, the Uni-Lions lost four times.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Manchester City left it late to overcome St. Polten in Vienna. A late strike by Australia’s Mary Fowler gave them a 3-2 victory Chelsea moved to the top of their UEFA Women’s Champions League group with a 3-1 win at Twente on Thursday, while record eight-time winners Lyon saw off Wolfsburg. Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea, still bidding for a first Champions League title after four semi-final exits and a final defeat since 2018, made it two wins from two in Group B after beating Real Madrid in their opener. The five-time defending English Women’s Super League (WSL) forged ahead early on, thanks to rising star Agnes Beever-Jones’ first goal in the competition. Japanese forward Maika Hamano caught home goalkeeper Olivia Clark off her line from long
Taiwanese runner Lo Wei-ming (羅維銘) broke the record for his age bracket and finished third in this year’s Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race on Monday evening in New York (local time). Running the multi-day footrace for his fourth consecutive year, Asian record holder Lo broke the “age 60 record” by finishing in 45 days, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 55 seconds, according to the organizers. The previous age 60 record of 50 days, 15 hours, 6 minutes and four seconds had been held by British runner William Sichel since 2014. Now in its 28th year, the Sri Chinmoy Self- Transcendence 3100 Mile
MAKING HISTORY: The Dodgers pitchers have now tied the post-season record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings set by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1996 World Series Los Angeles pitcher Jack Flaherty on Sunday dominated over seven scoreless innings as the Dodgers shut out the New York Mets 9-0 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. Mookie Betts delivered a three-run double. Max Muncy drove in two runs and Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani singled in a run and electrified the Dodger Stadium crowd with a hit that threatened to clear the outfield wall, but it was more stellar pitching, backed by lockdown defense and a disciplined performance at the plate, that propelled the Dodgers to victory to start the best-of-seven series. “It’s a lot of fun,” Flaherty
US Mountain West Conference (MWC) Commissioner Gloria Nevarez on Thursday said the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents. Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting. A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they would not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host