With the first-half title on the line in a one-game playoff situation, the Macoto Cobras dominated the Sinon Bulls in a 4-0 shutout victory at Chiayi on Thursday night for their first-ever regular season crown.
The serpents could have won the first-half title outright with a win over the President Lions in Tainan on June 30. But a ninth-inning collapse by the Cobras bullpen blew a 1-0 lead that eventually ended in a 2-1 loss to give them and the Bulls n identical records (28-20-2), forcing the one-game playoff.
On Thursday, neither club could score through the first five innings, with the Bulls being kept in complete check by Cobras starter Lin Ying-jeh in a no-hit bid, while Bulls right-hander Lenin Picota kept the Cobras in check.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
It took three consecutive singles by the Cobras' Mario Encarnacion, Luo Ming-ching, and Deng Shih-yang, all with two outs, to score the Cobras' first two runs off Picota in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Leading 2-0, the serpents doubled their lead in the seventh on one swing by cleanup man Hsieh Jia-shien, whose two-run home run off Bulls reliever Osvaldo Martinez to right-center, again with two outs, to put the Cobras up 4-0.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you I was not nervous during the at-bat, especially after failing to come up anything in my first three at-bats," Hsieh said after the game, referring to his league-leading 17th homer of the season that sealed the win for the Cobras.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Rookie righty Lin En-yu pitched a perfect ninth, after Lin Ying-jeh's eight magnificent innings of two-hit ball to nail down the win, sending waves of orange-and-black ribbons onto the field as the players stormed out of the dugout to celebrate.
"It's simply awesome," Cobras manager Kuo Tai-yuan said after the game. "Words can't even begin to describe all the hard work that we as a team have done.
"Outstanding job by everyone in the organization all around."
Missing two of their regular starters -- outfielder Tseng Hua-wei and shortstop Cheng Jau-han to injuries -- the normally powerful Bulls' offense was limited to a pair of singles off Lin Ying-jeh.
It was the first time that the Bulls have been shut out this season.
"He [Picota] did a good job for us as far as keeping us in the game." Bulls manager Liu Rong-hua said. "It's too bad that our hitters never came around like we had hoped to back him up."
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
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite