As a three-team race heats up, the Sinon Bulls are at the top of the league standings. The Bulls have won all 12 series this season, demonstrating remarkable consistency. The Bulls are the only team that has not lost more than two consecutive games all season long.
By comparison, the ChinaTrust Whales are as streaky as they come. While the Whales lead the league in the number of games where they have scored in double digits (seven), they also have been shutout three times, only slightly better than the last-placed First Securities Agan, which have endured six shutouts.
Since April 25th, the Lions are 1-8, with many tough ball games coming up, which include series with the Whales, the Elephants, and the Bulls.
The Lions have slumped mostly because of the absence of solid pitching that brought the Lions their early successes.
Besides ace of the staff, Joe Davenport (8-1 with 2.10 ERA), who suffered his first defeat of the season against the Bulls on April 30th, the Lions have only one other reliable starter in its rookie sensation Pan Wei-luen [(
Despite all the things that the Bulls are doing right (first in team batting average at .310 and second in team ERA at 3.18), manager Chen Wei-chen (
Round Up
The Agan showed some signs of competitiveness in the first two games this week against the Whales in Chiayi. Although both games ended with the Whales coming from behind to take the win, new Agan interim manager Tsai Rong-tsung (
Newly arrived Whale third baseman Juan Melo was the difference in both games against the Agan earlier this week. The switch-hitting Dominican Republic native knocked in the game-winner on both nights as he went 3 for 7 with 4 RBI's and one home run.
Upcoming Games
The Whales will look to continue their winning ways against the Agan as the two teams finish the four-game series up north in Hsinchu on Friday and Hsinchuang on Saturday.
The Bulls took on the Elephants in Kaohsiung yesterday, and they will meet again in Taichung today and in Tienmu on Sunday as they try to protect their slim lead against the Whales.
Elephants skipper Lin Yi-tseng (林易增) will put ace starter Jonathan Hurst to the mound.
A three-game series between the Lions and the Makoto Gida began in Hsinchuang yesterday, and will continue in Hualien tomorrow and Sunday.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite