Shaky pitching against a powerful President Lions' lineup dealt the Brother Elephants three straight losses last week, making them the only winless club in the league.
The Elephants pitching staff hasn't been able to win even with the offense averaging over five runs per game.
On opening day, starting pitcher Jonathan Hurst of the US was one throw away from pocketing a win, when the Lions' Israel Alscantara jumped all over a high pitch in the top of the first for a three-run shot in a 5-4 final.
Game 2 starter Harold Woodman had a 3-1 lead when he was pulled after the third inning with an injury.
The Lions quickly cranked up their offense, registering four runs during the fourth inning against reliever Chuang Pei-chuen.
"There is no doubt that we have some holes to fill in our staff, especially if you count out the starters," Hurst said after the game.
"Even though we need to do something about our mid-relief, everyone knows good starting pitching will win you some games in this league."
Whales versus Cobras
The Chinatrust Whales missed a four-game sweep of the Macoto Cobras by one run to finish the week 3-1.
After beating the serpents 3-1 on Tuesday and 9-1 on Wednesday, the Whales fell 2-1 on Friday before coming back strong with an 8-3 win on Saturday.
Friday's contest at Hsinchuang was a pitching duel, with four Cobras pitchers combining to hold the Whales to only four hits for the day.
Whales rookie Du Chang-wei turned in a solid performance in the loss, going the distance -- allowing only two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking four.
The Cobras win was credited to Dominican newcomer Enrique Ramirez, who held the Whales to one run on one hit over five innings, before three relievers were called on to preserve the victory.
BULLS VERSUS BEARS
Inconsistent starting pitching caught up to the Sinon Bulls in their final game of the series against the La New Bears on Sunday, when they were beaten by the Bears 3-1 in the series finale.
The defending champions won 6-2 in Game 1 on Thursday, behind a strong outing by lefty Jeff Andra of the US.
On Saturday, the Bulls eked out a 4-3 win when reliever Kuo Yung-chih bailed out starter Osvaldo Martinez with three innings of relief work that allowed the opposition no runs.
Newly acquired righty Walter Silva of Mexico made sure his Bears would come out ahead against Bulls starter Yu Wen-pin for their first win of the year by shutting down the Bulls' offense with a one-hit effort over seven magnificent innings.
It was not until the top of the ninth inning that the Bulls managed to break up the shutout on Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's run-scoring line drive up the middle to send teammate Tseng Hua-wei back to home plate for the winning run.
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