BASEBALL / Teng Kai-wei tosses 2 scoreless innings in Astros 7-5 loss to Cardinals

Taipei, April 20 (CNA) Teng Kai-wei (鄧愷威) on Sunday continued his strong start to the Major League Baseball (MLB) season, tossing two scoreless innings in the Houston Astros' 7-5 home loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Taiwanese right-hander came out of the bullpen at the top of the sixth inning, with the Astros trailing 4-1. He struck out three while allowing one hit and one walk, lowering his earned run average (ERA) to 1.98.

Of his 35 pitches, 23 were strikes, including two clocked at 94.7 miles per hour.

The game marked Teng's second straight outing without allowing a run. The 27-year-old has pitched 13 2/3 innings this season, posting 8.49 strikeouts per nine innings (K/9), with a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .156 -- a sharp improvement from .351 and .365 in his previous two seasons.

Led by a solo shot from slugger Yordan Alvarez, his 10th in MLB, the Astros tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning. However, the Cardinals prevailed with a three-run frame in the top of the 10th, partly due to a fielding error by Astros third baseman Brice Matthews, resulting in Bryan King's first loss of the season. The Astros lost the home game 7-5.

Also on Sunday, Lee Hao-yu (李灝宇) went 0-for-4 in his second MLB game for the Detroit Tigers, which defeated the Red Sox 6-2 in the third game of a four-game series at Fenway Park.

Lee, a right-handed batter, got the start at third base as the Tigers faced Red Sox left-handed ace Garrett Crochet. Lee struck out in his first two at-bats before recording a groundout and a flyout.

Lee was called up Friday to fill the vacancy left by utility player Zach McKinstry, who was placed on the injured list with left hip/abdominal inflammation. He debuted the same day when the Tigers faced left-hander Ranger Suarez, but was benched Saturday when right-hander Brayan Bello started for Boston.

Right-hander Sonny Gray is set to start for the Red Sox on Monday, which makes it less likely that Lee will start for the Tigers.

After Sunday, the Tigers moved to 12-10, second in the American League Central Division, 0.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians, while the Astros, at 8-15, remained last in the American League West Division.