Defending champs the Brother Elephants took Games 1 and 2 in the four-game series against the Macoto Cobras earlier this week to grab a half-game lead over the Cobras in the latest standings. The top two squads in the league appeared to be heading for a tight race to claim the first-half title that will assure the winner a berth in the postseason championship series.
Tuesday night's contest in Hsinchuang was a foregone conclusion by the fourth inning as the golden-jerseyed Elephants rang up eleven runs in the first four innings against three different Cobra pitchers to take a commanding 11-2 lead.
Highlighted by a seven-run second that sent eleven Elephant hitters to the plate, the Elephant offense took no mercy against a Cobra pitching staff that had the league's best-earned run average of 2.74 (ERA) up to that point.
The Elephants would make it 14-2 before the serpents put up four runs in the last two frames for a 14-6 final, capped by third baseman Willis Otanez's three-run blast in the top of the eighth, for his fifth long ball of the season.
Offensively for the Elephants, last week's home run derby continued as "Chia-Chia" Peng Cheng-ming added another dinger to his league-leading total of six and Chen "The Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan belted two home runs for his first multi-homer performance of the year.
Japanese veteran starter Yokota Hisanori fanned 13 over seven strong innings in a dominating effort from the mound to register his third victory of the season, while his counterpart Chuang Jing-heh took the loss after being chased in the second in his shortest outing thus far.
Game 2 on Wednesday night had the Cobras taking a slim 2-1 lead into the ninth with their ace closer Huang Chin-chih looking to take care of business when Elephant leadoff man Chen Rei-cheng lined a two-out, two-run double down the right field line to bring home both runners from the corners for the dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win.
The game-clincher sent Elephant starter Nakagomi Sin to his fifth straight win in a complete-game effort, making him the first six-game winner in the league. The former Hanshin Tiger of the Nippon Professional Baseball League was the first to congratulate Chen after the soft-spoken All-Star shortstop delivered the game-winner and the entire team left the dugout to receive their hero for the night.
Huang was one out away from his sixth save of the season; instead, the third-year, normally sure-handed lefty suffered his second blown save of the year in a losing cause.
The Chinatrust Whales showed why they were the ruler of the sea by sending the hapless La New Bears to their record-tying eleventh setback in a row. The Bears actually struck first in the bottom of the second on a failed double-play attempt by the Whales that scored the runner from third. But the Whales would quickly shift into another gear by scoring three runs of their own in the top of the fourth on shortstop Cheng Chang-ming's bases-clearing double.
Whale starter Geraldo Guzman allowed two runs on five hits in as many innings for his first win of the season, while American right-hander Phillip Bailey pocketed his fifth loss of the year.
Hih Jau-tong's two-run single that just stayed fair broke a scoreless game between the Sinon Bulls and the President Lions. The Bulls' reserve catcher made the most out of his starting role with his big bat and had many wondering if he could eventually replace the longstanding icon Yeh Jung-chang behind the plate.
Upcoming Games
The Cobras will look to even things up with the Elephants in Hsinchuang on Friday and tonight while the Bulls finish their visit to the Lions in Tainan tonight and tomorrow afternoon.
The Bears will try to snap their losing streak in their matches against the Whales in Kaohsiung on Friday night and tomorrow afternoon.
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
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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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB