Wang Jing-yong's two-out, tie-breaking single off Chinatrust Whales reliever Nee Fu-deh in the top of the 10th scored the winning run for the Brother Elephants as they beat the Whales 5-4 in Sinjhuang on Thursday evening to snap a three-game losing streak.
Brother closer Chuang Pei-chuan cost fellow starter Nick Bierbrodt a big win by blowing his second save of the season as he allowed the Whales to score the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth when Chen Jie-wei drew a leadoff walk off Bierbrodt. Chen then took second on the ensuing walk by Elephants reliever Wu Bao-shien before reaching home on Wang Hsin-min's opposite-field single off Chuang to make it 4-3 and knotting things up at 4-all on Huang Kwei-yu's sacrifice-fly.
Chuang would go on to earn his first win of the year thanks to Wang's clutch single that delivered the game-winner in extra innings.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The game began with the Elephants wasting no time against Whales starter Shen Yu-jeh by taking the lefty deep with Chen Rei-cheng's two-run homer in the top of the first for a 2-0 lead before ringing up three singles in the second to make it 3-0.
Down by three, the Whales would get two of the three runs back in the third on Chen Jien-wei's two-run double off Bierbrodt to make it 3-2 after three innings of play.
The score remained 3-2 over the three innings until the Elephants were handed their fourth run of the game when the Elephants' Huang Cheng-wei drew a one-out walk off Whales reliever Liu Yu-chan, stole second, and reached third on a wild pitch by Liu before being waived home on a grounder by Liu Gheng-hsin in a 4-2 game.
Bierbrodt pitched brilliantly for the Elephants with eight-plus innings of three-run ball on four hits and a season-high 13 strikeouts. Had it not been for his bullpen's late-game collapse, the American southpaw would have easily won his second game of the year.
Taking the loss for the Whales was Nee, who was brought in with minimal warm-up in an attempt to pitch his club out of a jam. He is now 1-4 for the year.
Bulls 8, Cobras 6
Five deadly errors by a sloppy Macoto Cobras that resulted in six unearned runs for the Sinon Bulls lifted the Bulls past the serpents in a wild 8-6 win at Chiayi on Thursday night.
The loss by the self-destructing Cobras nipped a three-game winning streak for the league-leaders as they missed a golden opportunity to extend their lead over the second-placed La New Bears who now only trail the Cobras by a half-game in the latest standings.
"Anytime you commit five errors in the game, you know you are in for a long night," Cobras manager Wu Fu-lien said after the game.
His crew had been playing fundamentally sound baseball for the most part in the early going this year before Thursday's forgettable outing.
Offensively for the victorious Bulls, outfielder Yu Hsien-ming was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle with an infield single in the first, a double in the second and a rare triple in the eighth.
Picking up the win for the Bulls was Iba Tomokazu of Japan, who allowed four runs (only one earned) on ten hits over six innings for his league-best third win of the season.
Compared to Iba, Cobras starter Kim Jebin of South Korea was not nearly as fortunate as his defense dug a five-run hole through the first four innings for him, a deficit proved too much to overcome.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Travis Hafner hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning as the Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 on Thursday, sending Cleveland back to Jacobs Field with a victory in its homestand away from home.
Orioles 2, Royals 1
At Baltimore, Jay Gibbons, who fouled out with two runners on base in the eighth, lined an opposite-field single to left with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th off Jason Standridge (0-1).
Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4
At Toronto, Brandon Inge homered and drove in three runs, and Mike Maroth (2-0) limited Toronto to two runs and nine hits in six innings as Detroit won for the fifth time in six games.
Twins 3, Devil Rays 2
At Minneapolis, Justin Morneau homered off Brian Stokes (0-2) leading off the bottom of the ninth to give Minnesota the win.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Ronnie Belliard hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning off John Smoltz, and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Thursday night to stop a six-game losing streak.
Ryan Zimmerman also hit an RBI single for the Nationals (2-8), who had never before led a game this year at the time a pitch was thrown. Their only previous win was on April 4, when Dmitri Young hit a game-ending single that capped a three-run ninth inning in a 7-6 victory over visiting Florida.
Mets 5, Phillies 3
At New York, Tom Glavine (2-1) beat Jamie Moyer (1-1) in the oldest matchup of left-handed starters in major league history, getting his 292nd win.
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For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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