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.
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Brentford striker Yoane Wissa says he wants to leave the English Premier League club and that it is “unduly standing in my way.” A day before the end of soccer’s summer transfer period, Wissa posted a lengthy statement on social media yesterday criticizing Brentford for rejecting an apparent offer from another Premier League club despite his willingness to switch between the teams. Wissa, a reported target for Newcastle, is yet to play for Brentford this season and had already removed any association with the club from his Instagram account. Yesterday, the 28-year-old DR Congo international took it a step further on the social
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