The President Lions clinched the first-half title with a convincing 5-0 shutout win over the Sinon Bulls at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Sunday, assuring themselves a spot in the postseason play that will include the second-half champs and the club with the third-best overall record.
Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen proved his worth as the highest-paid local player (NT$460,000 per month) in the league with seven innings of shutout ball on as many hits to lead his team to victory. The former number-one draft pick of the Lions (in 2003) has won 20 straight dating back to last season, making him the epitome consistency when it comes to rock-solid starts.
Yang Dong-yi’s RBI-single off Sinon starter Jose Espinal got the visiting cats on the board before Pan Wu-hsiung followed with a lining double to deep-center that scored two more runs to give their team a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the second.
After a quiet third, the Lions would added on a pair of runs in the fourth, courtesy of back-to-back errors by the Bulls defense this time, that made it 5-0.
And that was more than ample for Du Du as he cruised through the seventh before turning the game over to fellow reliever Ricky Stone who tossed two innings of scoreless relief to keep the shutout intact.
The Bulls’ best scoring chance in the game came during the bottom of the second when they loaded up the bases against Pan Wei-luen with two outs on three hits, but came away empty as the Lions ace calmly retired the Bulls’ Lin Tsong-nan to end the inning unharmed.
Suffering the tough loss in a four-hit outing was Espinal who allowed five runs (three earned) over six innings of work in his third defeat of the season as he fell to a 2-3 mark.
T-REX 3, BEARS 2
Lin “Wild Hog” Hong-yuan’s pinch-hit single to left scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth as the dmedia T-Rex overcame a 1-2 deficit to top the La New Bears 3-2 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu on Sunday to snap a three-game losing skid.
Wang Chuan-jia’s solo homer off Bears starter Hsu Yu-wei gave the T-Rex an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second before the Bears answered with Huang “Easy” Long-yi’s two-run blast off dmedia starter Chen Jien-fu in the top of the third to his team ahead 2-1.
The Bears lead would last all but an inning as the T-Rex battled back with the tying run from Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien’s second homer in as many days to tie the game at 2-all, which lasted until the eighth before Lin’s game-winning swing.
Picking up his first win of the season was Lee Ming-jin who pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth before fellow closer Nathan Bland sealed it with a hitless ninth.
The usually potent Bears offense was held to two meager runs on five hits in a game that was a defensive struggle for both squads.
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
RSS