Hiroshi Fujimoto's two-out single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth knocked in two runs for the Chinatrust Whales as they overcame a late-game deficit to beat the Brother Elephants 3-2 in Sinjhuang on Friday evening.
The win by the Whales not only evened their two-game set versus the Elephants at one win apiece, but also kept the Whales in pace with the league-leading Macoto Cobras, who also won on the night.
The classic pitchers' duel had the Whales jumping to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when speedy outfielder Gee Jung-lin led off the game with a rare triple off Elephants starter Yeh Yong-jeh and scored two batters later on Kao Jung-chiang's RBI single.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
The Elephants would promptly even things up at 1-all after a scoreless second on Chen Rei-cheng's run-scoring single that scored Liu Ghen-hsin, who singled to first and stole second before taking home on Chen lined a single to shallow-left for the equalizer.
The Chen-Liu connection would strike again in the top of the fifth for the Elephants when the former stretched a long double into a triple and scored on the latter's groundout to third on the ensuing play to give their team 2-1 lead.
Kept at bay by the solid pitching of the Elephants' Yeh, the Whales' bats remained relatively quiet from the second inning on, until Hiroshi's clutch single in the eighth off reliever Chuang Wei-chuan rallied the marine creatures to a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Whales starter Kao Jien-san booked in seven decent innings, allowing two runs on seven hits in his longest outing of the year. Even though his bid for a second win of the season came up an inning short, the quality start by the veteran starter meant great news for skipper Hsieh Chang-hehn, who is still in search of a reliable No. 3 starter on a rotation that has not shown the kind of consistency that he expected at the start of the season.
Reliever Luo Jien-ming was credited with the win for retiring the lone batter he faced that ended the Elephants' eighth, while lefty Nee Fu-deh picked up his first save of the year for recording the final out of the game, which came on a spectacular dive by Whales shortstop Cheng Chang-ming, who robbed the Elephants' Chen Huai-shan of a potential game-winning base hit on the game-ending out.
Taking the loss for the Elephants was Liao Yu-cheng, who was responsible for the two runs that Hiroshi knocked in during the eighth for his first loss of the season.
Cobras 7, Bulls 5
The Macoto Cobras avenged a tough loss to the Sinon Bulls on Thursday with a 7-5 win in Taichung on Friday night to salvage a one-game series split with the Bulls.
Four first-inning runs by the Cobras offense against a wild Bulls starter Yu Wen-pin set the tone in the game as the Bulls found themselves playing catch-up throughout the entire contest.
Hsieh "the Ugly" Jia-shien's RBI single sparked a five-hit, top-of-the-first that plated four quick runs for the serpents before reliever Lee Guo-ching struck out two in a row to keep the Cobras from doing further damage.
The score remained 4-0 in favor of the Cobras with Lee throwing six shutout innings on two scattered singles, which allowed his Bulls to ring up three runs in the sixth to make it 4-3.
That was as close as the Bulls got as the Ugly belted a two-run double down the first base line to up the Cobras' lead back to three before the two teams traded another run each over the next inning in a 7-4 ball game.
Cheng Jau-han's crafty infield single that scored the runner on third off Cobras closer Travis Minix made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth, but the American righty was able to get out of the two-out, with-the-tying-run-on jam by getting the next batter to fly out to end the Bulls scoring threat.
Picking up the win for the Cobras was starter Chang Hsien-chih, who allowed two runs on five hits in as many innings for his second win of the year.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
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.
RSS