Hawks Walk Off, Guardians Also Win; Dragons' Half-Season Title Halted at M8

(CNA, by reporter Su Zhi-she, Taipei, 7th) The Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) TSG Hawks relied on a walk-off single by Tseng Tzu-Yu today to defeat the Wei Chuan Dragons 2-1. In another CPBL game, the Fubon Guardians also beat the Uni-President 7-ELEVEn Lions 4-1, collectively halting the Dragons' magic number for clinching the first-half title at M8.

In the Dragons-Hawks game at Chengcing Lake Baseball Stadium today, Dragons' starting pitcher Drew Gagnon threw 7 scoreless innings, and the offense grabbed the first run in the top of the 8th with a key hit from Chu Yu-Hsien. However, in the bottom of the 9th against the Dragons' closer Lin Kai-Wei, with one out and runners on first and second, the Hawks' Sung Po-Han first hit a double to tie the game, before Tseng Tzu-Yu added a walk-off single to left field.

The Guardians, playing as visitors at the Taipei Dome, faced the Uni-Lions with starter Lee Tung-Ming. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and 4 walks, but repeatedly escaped jams, allowing only 1 run. The offense provided 4 runs of support in the first 5 innings to secure the victory, giving Lee his 7th consecutive win.

The game between the Rakuten Monkeys and the CTBC Brothers at Intercontinental Baseball Stadium was interrupted in the top of the 4th inning due to heavy rain. The league announced the game will be resumed as a suspended game on June 28 at the same venue. The Monkeys are not yet eliminated from the first-half race, but their elimination number is down to 1.