When Chinatrust Whales cleanup man Hung Chi-fong's (洪啟峰) two-run blast cleared the center field fence for a 3-0 lead in the top of the third on Sunday, the Sinon Bulls seemed headed for another long day against a powerful Whales offense that averages over six runs per game. Instead, the Bulls kept their composure and scored five unanswered runs late in the game for their second straight come-from-behind victory.
The 5-4 win not only clinched the three-game series for the hosting Bulls, it put them in a three-way tie atop the league standings for the first time in the second half of the season.
Following the two-all series opener on Thursday night that drew nearly 3,000 fans, the Whales struck early again as they took a 2-1 lead into the eighth Friday night. Then came the one run stand-up double by Bulls third baseman Chang Tai-shan (
The Whales quickly sent ace closer Maximo Rosa to the mound, but Rosa then yielded a double to batter Cheng Jau-hahn (鄭兆行).
Right-hander Yang Chien-fu (
On Sunday in the series finale, with his team trailing 4-0, Cheng helped jumpstart a sluggish Bulls dugout. With two runners on, Cheng then won the game in the eighth with a three-run homer to the left field bleachers.
"Cheng's homer was the turning point of the game," Bulls skipper Chen Wei-chen (
The First Securities Agan took games 2 and 3 of their four-game series against the Makoto Gida. After splitting the first two games of the series, the hosts took a 10-1 lead after six innings against Gida starter Choi Dong-jin of South Korea and reliever Lee Yi-nan (
The Agan batted around the order in the fifth inning, but the Gida would manage to score six runs in the last three innings to make the final score 10-7.
Agan starter Ben Burlingame got the win, yielding one run on five hits over 5-2/3 innings.
The Agan came within one run of their first three-game winning streak of the season on Sunday as they took a 3-2 lead into the ninth in the series finale. Ace closer Lee Fong-hua (
The Brother Elephants had two easy victories against the President Lions on Thursday and Saturday night by a combined score of 11-3.
Veterans Jonathan Hurst and Yokota Hisanori held a powerful Lions attack to two runs on game 1 and a lone run in game 2 of the three-game series.
But the Elephants' luck ran out on Sunday as the home team scored early and often in a 7-2 victory that drew nearly 11,000 fans.
Behind an outstanding effort by starter John Burgos, the Lions kept the Elephants off the board until the top of the ninth. But the two Elephants runs were too little and too late.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but