Chen Chin-fong’s bouncer over a drawn-in third baseman scored the go-ahead run in the top of the tenth and the La New Bears went on to beat the dmedia T-Rex 6-5 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu on Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.
Game-MVP Shih Chih-wei led off the inning with a clean double off dmedia reliever Lai Jung-nan and advanced to third on a fielding error on the same play to put himself in position for the game-winner.
The win avoided what would have been an embarrassing situation for the Bears as they blew a three-run lead late in the game, the last of which came on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth to force in the tying run.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen’s RBI-groundout gave the visiting Bears an early 1-0 lead in the opening frame before the contest turned into a pitchers’ duel through the fifth between the Bears’ Andrew Loraine of the US and fellow countryman Cory Bailey for the T-Rex.
A hibernating Bears offense would finally wake up in the top of the sixth with three-runs off Bailey, highlighted by Tseng Hao-jui’s two-run double to give his club a 4-0 advantage.
The lead lasted less than an inning as the T-Rex answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning on Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien’s two-run blast to half the Bears lead at 4-2.
It was Hsieh’s 100th homer in the league (not including the 75 that he hit over five seasons in the former Taiwan Major League).
Huang “Easy” Long-yi’s one-run single in the seventh promptly upped the Bears lead to three runs in a 5-2 affair before the T-Rex loaded up the bases and scored twice on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Bears reliever Huang Chin-chih to fall within a run.
Jermaine Van Buren was credited with the win for his 2-2/3 innings of scoreless relief even though he walked four and blew a save opportunity in the eighth to allow the T-Rex back in the game.
Tagged with the loss was his counterpart Lai for serving up the game-winner in the tenth.
Elephants 4 Whales 1
The Brother Elephants top the Chinatrust Whales by a 4-1 margin at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Saturday to sweep the two-game series.
Danny Core pitched seven brilliant innings of one-run ball with five scattered singles to pick up his fourth win of the year.
Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min and newcomer Carlos Rivera of Puerto Rico led the Elephants attack by going a combined 5-for-7 on the night.
Chen Rei-chen’s sacrifice fly followed by Chen Rei-chang’s RBI double broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth for the Elephants as they took a 2-0 lead over the Whales.
That was more than ample for Core as he allowed the lone Whales run in the fifth before his offense tacked on two more insurance runs in the eighth in the eventual 4-1 final.
Suffering the tough loss for the Whales was starter Du Chang-wei who allowed four runs (only two earned) on nine hits over 7-1/3 innings of work for his fifth setback of the season.
The Whales righty set a new league mark for consecutive losses with a dozen straight dating all the back to last season.
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
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put
RSS