Not even the hottest soap opera could compete with the drama that was on the CPBL stage last week, as we take a look at three series that had a little bit of something to suit everyone's taste.
The storyline of the week was: Can the 27-year-old Sinon Bulls third-baseman Chang "Prince of the forest" Tai-shan (
Having hit one out of the park on Saturday night in front of a home crowd of over 10,000 against Brother Elephants ace Jonathan Hurst, Chang filled the Taichung Stadium again on Sunday with another sold-out crowd eagerly awaiting the making of baseball history. Unfortunately, he had no home runs and ended up going one-for-five in a 14-4 losing effort against the Elephants, but did bring all those watching to their feet with a fly ball deep to right-center in the seventh, which was caught on the warning track by a back-pedaling Elephants center-fielder Chen Chih-yuen (
Overshadowed initially by the hype related to Chang's approach to the century mark, then by his second defeat of the season, was Bulls starter Osvaldo Martinez's own version of history-making. Martinez retired Elephants second baseman Feng Hseng-shian (馮勝賢) in the third inning to record his 856th career strikeout, surpassing the league record of 855 set by former President Lions pitcher and current Lions manager Hsieh Chang-hehn (謝長亨).
The win clinched the three-game series 2-to-1 for the Elephants against a strong Bulls.
The Makoto Gida did the near impossible in Kaohsiung by winning games three and four against the league-leading Lions, 8-2 and 4-2, respectively, to tie the series at two games apiece.
Down two games to zip going into Friday night's contest, Gida starter Tsai Shih-ching (蔡士勤) held back a powerful Lions lineup, that had averaged nearly seven runs per game, to just two runs on four hits in a complete-game outing.
The Gida continued their winning ways on Saturday against by holding the Lions to just two runs in a 4-2 affair.
Cheng Jing-yi (
The First Securities Agan managed to prevent the three-game series sweep by the ChinaTrust Whales with a 3-all tie on Sunday. Unlike games one and two against the Whales, where the Agan lost both games by a whopping combined score of 26-to-4, Sunday night's game in Hsinchuang went down the wire. The Agan took a 3-1 lead into the eighth, only to see it vanish, courtesy Whale designated hitter Tseng Han-chou's (
"It's one of those games where you wish you could catch a break," Agan starter Greg Bicknell said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was