Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen set a new Chinese Professional Baseball League record for consecutive victories by pitching the President Lions to a 3-0 shutout over the Brother Elephants in Tainan on Friday for his 15th straight win.
The Lions staff ace continued to rack up the wins for his club despite suffering from a shoulder injury that had limited him to no more than six innings per start since the middle of May.
Pan pitched the minimum five innings required to qualify as a starter for a win while the Lions offense did its part by scoring a run for him en route to the victory.
"The early lead that the offense spotted me really made it easier for me, especially against a good team like the Elephants," Du Du said after the game, giving credit to his offense and the Elephants.
Had the offense not scored, he probably would have had to settle for a no-decision on the night.
Pan's 15th straight win was not the only thing that gave fans of the home Lions something to cheer about as long-ball threat Tilson Brito also hit hit a solo home run that gave Du Du the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
With his 31st blast of the year, Brito not only tied the league record for most home runs in a single season -- set by Luis Iglesias of the former Mercury Tigers in 1996 and the Elephants' Jay Kirkpatrick in 1998 -- but also became the fastest to hit 31 homers by doing it in his 88th game of the season.
After Brito's blast put the Lions ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first, neither offense was able to score over the next four innings against the pitching of Pan and Elephants starter Wu Bao-shien.
The Lions finally struck again in the sixth with a pair of runs off Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li on back-to-back RBI singles by Liu Fu-hao and Kao Chih-kang.
Following Pan's usual five innings, the Lions bullpen took over with four combined innings of scoreless relief by five different hurlers to keep the shutout intact.
When Lin Yueh-ping trotted to the mound from the Lions bullpen to start the ninth, the game reached its climax because the third-year right-hander -- who underwent an open-heart surgery in May to repair an aneurism -- pulled off an amazing comeback by finishing the usual nine month rehabilitation ahead of schedule in just more than four months.
Lin managed to strike out the only batter he faced before Lions closer Tsao Jung-yang retired the final two Elephants hitters to cap off an impressive win.
Pocketing the loss for the visiting Elephants was Wu, who pitched well enough for a win with four innings of one-run ball on three hits.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set