Cheng Nai-wen’s RBI ground-out capped a three-run eighth as the Uni-President Lions overcame a two-run deficit late in the game to defeat the Brother Elephants 9-8 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Trailing by two heading into the bottom of the eighth, the home Cats took full advantage of a costly error by Liu Geng-hsin, when the Elephants second baseman mishandled a high chopper by Kuo Dai-chi to second with the bases loaded to score the runners on second and third.
With runners at the corners in a tied game, Cheng promptly came up with the big RBI ground-out to give the Lions their first lead of the game at 9-8, a lead they would hold after a perfect ninth by closer Lin Yueh-ping.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The slugfest featured three homers and 22 combined hits and saw the Elephants taking leads of 1-0, 5-1, and 8-5 as late as the top of the seventh, with the resilient Cats fighting back each time, highlighted by a two-run blast from Jose Castillo in a three-run fifth that brought the Lions from four down to within a run.
Tseng Yi-cheng was credited with the win, despite allowing three runs on two hits and a walk in the seventh and eighth to beat his counterpart Mai Jia-rei, thanks to the late-game surge by his offense and the costly error by Liu.
BEARS 5, BULLS 4
The La New Bears needed a four-run fifth to take their first lead in a game in nearly two weeks and had to hold on for their lives to turnover the Sinon Bulls 5-4 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Tuesday night.
The win not only nipped a dreadful eight-game slide for the Bears, it also dealt the Bulls their fourth defeat in a row, as the battle of the bottom two went in the Bears’ favor.
Run-scoring hits by Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan and Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien in the fourth and fifth gave the visiting Bulls a 2-0 lead, before the hosts answered with a four-run fifth on the strength of consecutive RBI singles by Lin Chih-ping, Shih Chih-wei, and Lin Chih-sheng.
Huang “Easy” Long-yi’s solo shot off Ricardo Rodriguez in the sixth made it 5-2, which they held on to until the eighth when the Bulls struck for two more runs.
That was as close as it got as Hsu Ming-jeh came on with two outs and two on and struck out the Bulls batter to end the scoring threat, before pitching a scoreless ninth to preserve the win.
The Taiwan Daredevils yesterday won one and lost one in the Taiwan Premier League, dispatching TCA with ease, but stumbling against Formosa. In the morning match at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), the Daredevils’ Johan Koekemoer carried his side to 141-6 with 44 from 45 in their 20 overs. George Klopper’s right-arm spin dominated in the run chase. He claimed 4-5 from 3.3 overs as TCA slumped to 77 all out. The highlight of the innings was a stunning catch at cover as Jeff Black turned back the years to pull in a full-blooded drive on the dive
The Hsinchu Titans yesterday made a strong start in Group A of the Taiwan Premier League in Taipei, winning two games as the 10-team T20 competition began at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground. Chetan Sharma scored 57 from 30 deliveries in the morning match as the Titans made 178-7 against the Taipei Indians, who helped their opponents’ cause with 26 extras. Pramod Mandal took 3-11 as the Indians struggled to 126-8 in reply. The Taipei Stallions posed a greater hurdle to the Titans in the afternoon match, posting 163-7 after choosing to bat first. Hassaan Samad smashed 77 from 44 with seven fours and six
Tadej Pogacar on Tuesday continued his dominance of the Giro d’Italia after pounding his way to victory in the shortened 16th stage, which started three hours late after riders rebelled at demands they race through snow. Slovenian cycling superstar Pogacar burst to the fifth stage win — and second in a row — of his first ever Giro to take another big step toward a third triumph at a Grand Tour. The two-time Tour de France winner could have held his position in the peloton and still led the three-week race handsomely, but he surged past Giulio Pellizzari in the final kilometer
Shohei Ohtani’s first walk-off hit for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday was also his first game-ending hit in the majors in nearly four years. His still-new teammates and fans who celebrated with him at Chavez Ravine expect to see many more feats from a superstar who is somehow getting even better in Dodger blue. Ohtani pulled a low fastball to right with two outs in the 10th inning, scoring Jason Heyward and ending the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Two teammates doused Ohtani with water, while a crowd of 52,656 roared for the latest feat by the US$700 million slugger. “We