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.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
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