BASEBALL/Jhang Jhao-yuan, Hawks walk off Monkeys for 1st win in 2025 CPBL season

Taipei, April 5 (CNA) After a three-game skid, the TSG Hawks secured their first win of the 2025 season in their home opener on Friday, defeating the Rakuten Monkeys 4-3 on a walk-off, with two-RBI single by Jhang Jhao-yuan (張肇元).

Two outs away from their fourth straight loss, the Hawks strung together three consecutive hits to turn the game around.

After Wang Po-jung (王柏融) singled off Monkeys closer Chen Bo-hao (陳柏豪), Steven Moya -- the reigning home run leader in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) -- ripped a double down the right-field line, putting two runners in scoring position for Jhang.

Behind in the count 2-2, Jhang connected on a 145-kph fastball, sending a grounder past shortstop Ma Chieh-sen (馬傑森), who was playing shallow and could not make the stop. Both Wang and Moya came around to score, sealing the walk-off victory.

Jhang, who had gone hitless in his first three at-bats Friday, admitted he was nervous stepping into the box, afraid he might fail to bring the runners home.

"I calmed myself down when I thought about how I had veteran teammates like Wu Nien-ting (吳念庭) behind me," the third-year catcher said. "So I just went up there and swung aggressively."

That swing earned him MVP of the game in front of 15,487 fans.

The win also gave relief to Hawks manager Hung I-chung (洪一中), who avoided his first 0-4 season start since taking the reins in 2004.

Hung is the only manager to record 1,000 wins in the CPBL's 36-year history.

Monkeys starter Jonathan Bermudez allowed just one run -- Moya's solo homer in the second -- over 5 2/3 innings, while Hawks starter Bradin Hagens, who had suited up for the Monkeys from 2021-2023, gave up two earned runs over six innings. Both pitchers ended with no decisions.

Lin Shi-xiang (林詩翔) 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 remain the only CPBL team without a win this season. They will seek to arrest that slump at 4:05 p.m. Saturday in Game 2 of the three-game series in Kaohsiung.