Francisco Morales' two-out, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth sent the game into extra innings before power slugger Hsieh Jia-shien (
It was the serpents' first victory since their second-half opening win over the Chinatrust Whales on June 19.
The late-game drama nullified another impressive outing by Bulls starter Yang Jien-fu (
Yang left the game with a 1-0 lead that his bullpen mates failed to protect, denying him his eighth win of the season.
His counterpart, Kleber Ojima, was equally as impressive in holding a potent Bulls' lineup to six hits over nine frames before being relieved.
Other than a hanging slider that Bulls' third baseman Chang Tai-shan (
Sunday's 6-1 final, also in favor of the Cobras, did not have the late-game drama from the night before, but was filled with three long balls that sent the serpents to their second victory in as many games.
Morales' solo blast in the bottom of the fifth off Bulls starter Kuo Yung-chih (
Set-up man Lee Ming-jing (
Strong pitching was the difference in the President Lions' three-game sweep of the Whales last week, as the first-half champs held the Whales to just five runs in all three contests.
Thursday's 3-2 decision had the big cats trailing the Whales 1-2 in the bottom of the seventh until catcher Kao Cheng-hua's (
Lions closer Michael Garcia stuck out five batters in two innings of relief work for the win, extending his scoreless-inning streak to 37.
Normally sure-handed Whales closer Dario Veras suffered his first defeat of the year after giving up the lead in the seventh inning. He is now 5-1 with 8 saves for the year.
A four-run eighth by the Lions broke a 2-2 tie in Game 2 of the series on Friday night that made Garcia the winner for the second game in a row.
First baseman Kao Guo-ching (高國慶) started the Lions eighth with a solo homer -- his sixth of the year -- before veteran designated hitter Chen "the Terrorist" Cheng-shien (陳政賢) and center fielder Huang Kang-ling (黃甘霖) knocked in three more runs off Whales reliever Wang Guo-jing (王國進).
Sunday's series finale had the Lions eying a 14-0 shutout when Whales third baseman Chen Jien-wei' (
Lions starter Donald Lemon kept the Whales hitters guessing in five masterful innings before leaving the game with a 5-0 lead.
He's won both of his starts since joining the team three weeks ago.
The Brother Elephants ended their eight-game winning streak in heated fashion on Saturday night against the La New Bears, as several controversial calls prompted Elephants skipper Lin Yi-tseng (
Lin argued a strike-three call and was ejected from the game after he shoved umpire Hsu Rong-rong (
The Elephants came back from being down 6-0 and got as close as 8-7 before Bears closer Claudio Galva got the last six outs to preserve starter Lee Fong-hua's (
The Bears victory concluded a hard-fought series between the two squads that had the league-leading Elephants winning the first three contests by a combined four-run margin and provided an emotional boost to a young Bears team that proved it can beat the best team in the league.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier