Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-ming (
The Brother Elephants' cleanup man went 1-for-3 with two RBIs in his first game back in the Chinese Professional Baseball League after the month-long break to help the Elephants beat the Cobras 3-1.
Elephants starter Yokota Hisanori allowed only one run on three hits while fanning eight in seven innings to record his seventh victory of the season. Although Yokota did not have the pinpoint control that hitters around the league have become accustomed to (issuing a career-high five walks), the 37-year-old Japanese veteran managed to get the crucial outs necessary to hold the serpents scoreless over the first six frames.
As for the Cobras, stranding four runners in scoring position over the first six innings did not exactly please manager Kuo Tai-yuan (
Wednesday's 2-1 final in favor of the Elephants was another low-scoring affair where the Elephants came from behind to tie the game at 1-1 on shortstop Chen Rei-cheng's (陳瑞振) sharp liner that ricochet off reliever Lee Ming-jing's (李明進) leg for a run-scoring infield single in the seventh inning and won it on designated hitter Lee Chih-jeh's (李志傑) solo shot off Cobras reliever Bienvenido Rivera in the top of the eighth.
Lee's late-game heroics not only saves the day for the Elephants, which committed three errors, not to mention being out-hit the Cobras by a 6-to-4 margin, it helped make a 14-game winner out of starter Jonathan Hurst.
The former Major Leaguer from South Carolina surrendered just one run on four hits in eight solid innings.
Other than allowing a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third, Hurst was nearly flawless in his first start since late July.
Cobras lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh (
Team Captain Huang "Big Brother Tung" Chung-yi's (
Sinon slugger Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (
Starter Osvaldo Martinez racked up his sixth win of the year, despite a sub-par effort in allowing six runs on nine hits, while his American counterpart Chris Wright dropped to 1-3 for the year with the ugly loss.
The Bears did not fare any better against the Chinatrust Whales in Game 1 of their three-game series on Thursday either, as they suffered another blowout by a final of 11-3.
Unlike their previous loss, the Bears actually hung close -- trailing the Whales 4-3 in the fifth inning until the marine attack overwhelmed them in the bottom half of the inning with seven straight runs.
Pinch hitter Chen Wen-ping's (
Following the Whales victory, interim manger Huang Jong-rong (
Hsu coached the Taiwanese team during the Athens Games as his health deteriorated, leaving the longtime baseball icon presently hospitalized.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
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