The Macoto Cobras celebrated their first-half title with a thrilling 5-4 win over the Chinatrust Whales in Sinjhuang on Monday as makeup week winds down in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Having already clinched the first-half title because of a loss by the second-place La New Bears last weekend, the Cobras took the field in Sinjhuang on Monday night looking to celebrate the first-half title with a win over the marine creatures.
And that was exactly what they did, even though they had to hold on for their dear lives to keep a feisty Whales attack from from outscoring them.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The contest began when the serpents came out firing, scoring three quick runs off Du Chang-wei to knock out the Whales starter only one out into the opening frame, courtesy of Kuo Ming-ren's leadoff homer and Lin "Wild Hog" Hong-yuan's two-run single to left.
Then came a two-run second by the Cobras on the strength of Kuo's RBI single and Wang Chuan-jia's run-scoring double off Whales reliever Shen Yu-jeh to make it 5-1 in favor of the league-leaders.
With a run off Cobras starter Pat Ahearne in the bottom of the first and two more in the following inning off the US hurler, the Whales managed to pull within two runs of the serpents after two innings of play and seemed more than capable of overturning the game with a lineup that had little trouble with Ahearne's pitches.
Ahearne was eventually pulled after the fourth after throwing 51 pitches and allowing three runs on seven hits.
But the Whales did not know that the rest of the Cobras bullpen would come up with five outstanding innings of one-run ball on three hits to keep their narrow lead intact.
Other than a sixth-inning run by the Whales on consecutive base hits, the Cobras bullpen showed no signs of weakness as it allowed just two runner to reach second in the final five innings of play.
Picking up the win for the Cobras was reliever Chang Hsien-chih, who threw two-and-one-third innings of two-hit ball while fanning three to earn his fifth win of the year.
Taking the loss for the Whales was Du, who struggled in the game from the start as he allowed all but one of the first six batters he faced to reach to drop to a 1-5 mark for the season.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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