Hsu Wen-hsiung pitched six solid innings of one-run ball and Shih Chih-wei drove in a pair of runs on a 3-for-4 night to lead the La New Bears past the Sinon Bulls 8-1 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was a big win for Hsu not only because it improved his season mark to a respectable 3-1, but also because it was his 20th career victory which began in 2003 with the merger of the two leagues (the Chinese Professional Baseball League and the Taiwan Major League).
“It’s a big win for me because I have struggled on and off over the years for one reason or another,” Hsu said after the game as he was also voted the game-MVP.
Doing the damage at the plate was Shih who picked up his fifth three-hit game of the year while improving his average to .314.
Two quick runs in the bottom of the first from back-to-back sacrifice-flies by Chen Chin-fong and Gary Burnham spotted the home Bears to a 2-0 lead before they added three more runs an inning later on an RBI-double by Huang “Easy” Long-yi and a two-run single by Shih to go up 5-0.
Sinon starter Yu Wen-pin was greeted harshly by the Bears hitters in his shortest start of the season as he was relieved by Tsai Ming-jin in the second after being charged with all of the five early runs for the Bears.
Even though Tsai would pitch the next three-and-two-thirds innings without surrendering any runs to keep his club in the game, his offense was unable to solve Hsu with five futile innings against the Bears starter until it finally came through in the sixth with a lone run off Hsu after leading off the inning with a double and a single to place runners at the corners with no outs.
That was as close as the Bulls got as Hsu pitched out of the jam with minimal deanage en route to the convincing win.
Suffering the loss for the Bulls was Yu who had been 3-0 heading into the game with a outstanding ERA of 2.1 before serving up five runs on as many hits in a losing effort.
Whales 2 Lions 4
Top-ranked President Lions doubled up on the Chinatrust Whales in a 4-2 decision in Tainan on Tuesday to kick off the week of play with a bang.
Accounting for all four of his team’s runs, red-hot slugger Kao Guo-ching continued his dominance over the opposing pitchers by belting a two-run homer that brought his team back from two down in the seventh and a two-run single in the eighth to win it.
Kao’s outstanding play at the plate kept Lions starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen’s record-setting, 20-game winning streak alive as the Lions staff ace avoided what would have been a loss as he left the game in after the sixth trialing the Whales 0-2.
Du Du would end up with a no-decision on the night as the late-game surge by the Lions offense made a winner out of reliever Chang Chih-chiang for his two innings of scoreless relief in the seventh and eighth.
Tagged with the tough loss was Chang’s counterpart Liu Yu-chan who loaded up the bases in the eighth after getting two quick outs before giving up the game-deciding double to Kao.
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with