Yang Jien-fu pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball and Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan drove in a pair of runs on a two-for-four night to lead the Sinon Bulls past the Chinatrust Whales in a narrow 3-2 home win in Taichung on Thursday evening.
The former ace of the Sinon staff, who had been bothered by a series of nagging injuries all season long, returned to his old form by hitting more than 140kph with his fastball and getting his nasty slider to break hard and late to keep the Whales hitters off balance.
"It's really coming around for me now; I am hitting the spots that I hadn't been hitting before and it's paying off," Yang said after the game.
The Prince collected his team-best 74th RBI of the year with a fifth-inning double that ended up being the game-winning run.
The contest began with the home Bulls taking it to Whales starter Shen Yu-jeh right away with a pair of RBI singles by Chang and Chen Chih-wei in the bottom of the first for a quick 2-0 lead.
The Bulls would up their lead by one in the fifth after three scoreless innings in a 3-0 game. The Whales finally got on the board in the sixth on Chen Yong-tseh's solo home run off Yang to make it 3-1.
Trailing by a deuce with the top of the order due up against Bulls ace closer Kuo Yong-chih in the ninth, the Whales managed to score once more on Hsu Ren-jeh's solo blast to left to make it 3-2. But that was as close as they got as Kuo quickly settled in to record the final three outs of the game to pocket his league-leading 13th save of the season.
Yang earned his fourth straight win in as many starts by scattering four hits over seven innings to improve to seven wins for the year.
Suffering the tough loss was Shen, who allowed three runs on eight hits in four-and-one-third innings of work and saw his seven-game winning streak came to a crashing end as his offense failed to give him the run support that he had been getting over the past two months.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and