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.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
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