The 5-1 final in favor of the Bulls prevented a clean sweep by the Elephants in the three-game series and forced a 10-all split between the two rivals in their 20 regular season meetings, which further highlighted the evenness between the two clubs ahead of the Championship Series.
Pitching for the first time in nearly six weeks, Bull starter Tsai Chung-nan (蔡仲南) allowed just one run on four hits in seven strong innings in a brilliant performance. The victory netted Tsai his 10th win of the season and gave the Bulls' fans a glimpse of hope in finishing the season in grand fashion. After winning the first-half title with relative ease, the Bulls have not been as dominating in the second half primarily because a serious shoulder injury has sidelined Tsai for some time.
Last season's Rookie of the Year, who won nine games for the Bulls in the first half could have given the Bulls at least five more wins during the time he missed to keep pace with the Elephants.
Tsai's roaring return to the mound could very well be the missing piece in the Bulls' march to its first Championship trophy because he can be the third starter behind team ace Jeff Andra and Osvaldo Martinez to solidify a rotation that formerly had only two legitimate starters.
Offensively for the Bulls, the three triples during the four-run sixth in Sunday's contest not only tied the league record for most triples in an inning, but also convinced skipper Chen Wei-cheng (
The Lions followed their two shutout wins over the Makoto Gida earlier in the week with a 10-2 rout on Friday night. The win kept their title hopes alive for the day until the Elephants' title-clinching win in Tienmu on Saturday night.
Picking up where they left off in games 1 and 2 of the series, the Lions offense spotted starter Jose Parra of the Dominican Republic a five-run first-inning lead on five hits.
The lead proved to be ample because Parra kept the Gida off the board in the six innings he pitched by yielding only a pair of hits and fanning three. It wasn't until the top of ninth that the Gida offense finally broke through for two runs against Lion reliever Shen Po-chang (沈柏蒼) to snap their record-setting 36-inning scoreless streak.
Having learned that their postseason hope had been eliminated by the Elephants' victory over the Bulls earlier on Saturday, the Lions fell short in their rally against the Gida in Tainan as they lost by a score of 1-4.
Gida starter Shad Williams went the distance in the two-hitter as he pocketed the first win of the season. Williams had been winless in his six previous starts since joining the team in early August.
Thursday night's 4-3 thriller gave the visiting Chinatrust Whales the last laugh against a home First Securities Agan squad that led for most of the game.
In a classic seesaw battle, the Agan struck first with a pair of runs in the first. It wasn't until the top of the eighth that the Whales knotted the game at 2-all with two straight wild pitches by Agan reliever Hsu Wen-hsiung (
The Agan would retake the lead in the bottom of the eighth on right fielder Tsai Shih-fan's (蔡士凡) solo homer, only to see it disappear an inning later. The bottom of the order for the Whales managed to string together three straight hits against Agan closer Lee Fong-hua (李風華) to put the Whales up for good.
"Why bother having these relievers around?" a furious Agan manager Tsai Rong-chung (
The two teams had to settle for a 1-1 tie in the series because Sunday night' s finale was postponed to Oct. 6 due to wet weather.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set