Taiwanese pitcher Chang Chi-chie tossed a one-hitter over the distance Saturday to lead the Seibu Lions to a 3-0 victory over the Lotte Marines.
Chang, who improved to 4-2, struck out 10 and walked only two batters at Chiba Marine Stadium. Lotte's only hit came on a double by Takashi Kita in the third.
Alex Cabrera, formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, belted a solo home run in the second inning for his 18th homer of the season. Designated hitter Taketoshi Goto went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs.
Ham Fighters 13, BlueWave 4
At Tokyo Dome, veteran Yukio Tanaka went 4-for-5 and belted a two-run homer in the fifth to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 13-4 win over the Orix BlueWave.
Michihiro Ogasawara, former Cincinnati Red DT Cromer and Ken Yamada also homered for the Fighters.
Nippon Ham starter Hiroyuki Sekine picked up the win after holding the BlueWave to three runs on seven hits over five innings as the Fighters snapped a four-game losing skid.
Hawks 3, Buffaloes 2
At Fukuoka Dome, Kazumi Saito improved to 8-2 after giving up two runs on seven hits over eight innings as the Daiei Hawks edged the Kintetsu Buffaloes 3-2.
Jeremy Powell, formerly of the Montreal Expos, took the loss despite striking out nine over eight innings.
Dragons 11, BayStars 2
In the Central League, Takayuki Onishi belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Masahiko Morino followed with another two-run homer in the top of the ninth as the Chunichi Dragons cruised to an 11-2 win over the Yokohama BayStars.
Former St. Louis Cardinals infielder Ivan Cruz, Hirokazu Ibata and So Tsutsui also homered for the Dragons.
Carp 12, Swallows 3
In Fukushima, Shigeru Morikasa and Yoshiyuki Ishihara both hit two-run homers to lead the Hiroshima Carp to a 12-3 victory over the Yakult Swallows. Itsuki Asai hit a solo homer in the fourth and added a three-run blast in the ninth to complete the rout.
Hawks 9, Bufaloes 2
Pedro Valdes slammed a three-run homer Sunday as the Pacific League-leading Daiei Hawks scored seven runs in the second inning on their way to a 9-2 victory over the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
Valdes, formerly of the Texas Rangers, connected off of Kintetsu starter Hisashi Iwakuma with a blast into the right field stands at Fukuoka Dome. It was his 12th homer of the season.
Lions 7, Marines 4
In Chiba, Kazuhiro Wada connected for a solo homer in the top of the seventh inning as the Seibu Lions defeated the Lotte Marines 7-4. Lotte scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull to within a run but Wada gave the Lions an insurance run with his 12th homer of the season.
Koji Mitsui picked up the win after holding the Marines to three runs on seven hits over 5-2/3 innings.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later