The TSG Hawks on Friday ended a three-game skid and secured their first win of the season in their home opener, defeating the Rakuten Monkeys 4-3 in a walk-off win after Jhang Jhao-yuan’s two-RBI single.
Two outs away from their fourth straight loss, the Hawks strung together three consecutive hits to turn the game at Chengching Lake Stadium in Kaohsiung.
After Wang Po-jung singled off Monkeys closer Chen Bo-hao, Steven Moya — the CPBL’s top home-run hitter last season — ripped a double down the right-field line, putting two runners in scoring position for Jhang.
Photo: CNA
Behind in the count 2-2, Jhang connected on a 145kph fastball, sending a grounder past shortstop Ma Chieh-sen, who was shallow and could not make the stop.
Wang and Moya scored, sealing the walk-off victory.
Jhang, who had gone hitless in his first three at-bats, said that he was nervous stepping into the box, afraid he might fail to bring the runners home.
Photo: CNA
“I calmed myself down when I thought about how I had veteran teammates like Wu Nien-ting behind me,” the third-year catcher said. “So I just went up there and swung aggressively.”
That swing earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player award in front of 15,487 fans.
The win also gave relief to Hawks manager Hung I-chung, who avoided his first 0-4 start since taking the reins in 2004.
Photo: CNA
Hung is the only manager to record 1,000 wins in the CPBL’s 36-year history.
Monkeys starter Jonathan Bermudez allowed one run — a homer by Moya in the second — over 5-2/3 innings, while Hawks starter Bradin Hagens, who played for the Monkeys from 2021 to 2023, gave up two earned runs in six innings.
Lin Shi-xiang picked up the win after keeping the Monkeys off the board in the ninth. Chen took the loss, giving up two earned runs in the final frame.
The Monkeys dropped to 0-3 and remained the only CPBL team without a win this season.
They failed again last night to score their first victory, losing 4-2 in game 2 of the three-game series.
In the other results yesterday, with the games finishing just before press time last night, the Wei Chuan Dragons trounced the Fubon Guardians 11-3 at Taipei Tianmu Stadium, while the CTBC Brothers won 4-3 in 10 innings against the Uni-President Lions at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju yesterday lost 2-4 to South Korea’s Lee Sang-su in the men’s singles semi-finals match at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Incheon in South Korea. Lin, the world No. 14, defeated Japan’s Sora Matsushima 4-1 to reach the semi-finals, where he faced unexpectedly stiff competition from the world No. 45 Lee in front of the latter’s home crowd. The match started out even at 4-4, after which Lin pulled ahead to win the first game 11-5. He then lost the second game by the same score. In the third game, Lin blew an 8-5 lead, allowing Lee
RSS