Tilson Brito’s liner over a drawn-in outfield scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth as the President Lions rallied from one down in the ninth to top the La New Bears 6-5 in extra-innings at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night.
Trailing 4-5 after the Bears’ Huang “Easy” Long-yi had knocked in a run with a sacrifice-fly to break a 4-4 tie in the top of the ninth, the Lions immediately responded when Liu Fu-hao drew a lead-off walk off Bears closer Jermaine Van Buren and took second on a wild pitch by the American right-hander before scoring on Kuo Dai-chi’s single up the middle to even things up and send the game into extra sessions.
The Lions pack awoke and strung together three straight singles off Van Buren in the bottom of the tenth to put the game away.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The battle of the top two squads in the league lived up to its hype as it featured four different lead changes before it was all over.
Chen Chin-fong’s RBI-single off Lions starter Lin Yueh-pin gave the visiting Bears a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the third, before the Lions answered with the equalizer an inning later on Kao Guo-ching’s liner to shallow-center that scored the runner from second. The Bears would skid ahead in the fifth with a two-run double from Shih Chih-wei, only to see the Lions counter with Brito’s league-leading tenth home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left field wall.
Huang’s solo blast in the seventh made it 4-4, and that score lasted into the ninth to set the stage for the late-game drama.
Picking up the surprising win was Lions reliever Ricky Stone, who pitched a scoreless tenth, his first of the season, while his counterpart, Van Buren, was hit with the loss for blowing the save opportunity and allowing the game-winner in the tenth.
ELEPHANTS 7, T-REX 2
The Brother Elephants avenged an embarrassing 12-2 loss to the dmedia T-Rex on Monday with a 7-2 win on Wednesday evening at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang, their fifth win in six chances.
Game MVP Chen Guan-ren scored three times on a terrific four-for-five night and Chen Huai-shan drove in four RBIs to account for the bulk for the runs for the Elephants.
Starter Tseng Jia-min was spotted a six-run lead through the third which was more than ample for the rookie hurler as he allowed just a pair of runs on six hits over five solid innings.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
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