Makeup week continued with the dmedia T-Rex blanking the Chinatrust Whales 2-0 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium and the Brother Elephants downing the La New Bears 7-3 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Friday night in an effort to get all the first-half games in.
Nathan Bland made the most of his first start in Taiwan by tossing 6-2/3 innings of shutout ball before the dmedia bullpen took over with 2-1/3 innings of hitless relief to keep the shutout intact for the American lefty.
Providing the support with his big bat for the T-Rex was Napoleon Calzado of the Dominican Republics who drove in both of his team’s runs in the game by going 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly.
Deng Shih-yang’s standup double off Whales starter Nee Fu-deh got things moving in the right direction for the T-Rex as they opened the game with a first-inning run on Calzado’s sacrifice fly to claim a 1-0 lead before doubling it two innings later, this time on an RBI double by Calzado.
Spotted a 2-0 lead, Bland showed no signs of letting up after cruising through the sixth with minimum trouble before turning the game to fellow reliever two outs into the seventh in the eventual win.
Offensively for the marine creatures, none of the half-dozen hits they managed off the dmedia pitchers came with runners in scoring position, leaving them empty-handed on the night.
Suffering the tough loss despite pitching a sound two-run gem was Nee who allowed seven hits and struck out eight to drop his fourth game of the season.
ELEPHANTS 7, BEARS 3
Liao Yu-cheng improved to 7-1 for the year by pitching his second complete-game of the year to lead the Brother Elephants past the La New Bears 7-3 in Kaohsiung on Friday evening.
The fourth-year righty with an underhand delivery who has quietly taken over the distinction as the Elephants staff ace shook off a shaky first in which he surrendered a run on a pair of singles and a well-executed double-steal by the Bears and pitched well the rest of the way en route to his seventh victory of the year.
He also received plenty of run-support from his offense which put up seven early runs through the fourth, highlighted by Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s two-run double in the top of the third on a 3-RBI night to put the game away long before the final out.
With the three hits in the game, Peng surpassed the 700-hit plateau as the eighth active player in the league to accomplish the feat.
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