Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen tinkered with perfection on Thursday night by tossing a walk-less no-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Chinatrust Whales at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.
The lone base runner for the Whales came by ways of a bobbled catch by first baseman Kao Guo-ching on a routine putout that was called safe by the first base umpire in the top of the first. Other than that, it was smooth sailing for the Lions ace as he retired all 27 of the Whales batters he faced in order to become the first pitcher in Taiwan to pocket a no-hitter this century (the last no-hitter thrown was by former Lions great Tsao Jung-yang on May 13, 1999).
“It’s one of those things you wish for, but never know if it will ever come,” an overjoyed Pan said after the game.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
He became the sixth man in league history to register a no-hitter, closer than any of his five predecessors to a perfect game, as all of them had allowed at least one walk in their amazing feats.
Doing the damage at the plate for the home Lions was a feisty heart of the order consisting of Pan Wu-hsiung, Tilson Brito and Kao, whose combined 5-for-11 hitting with four RBIs accounted for the bulk of their team’s runs.
Suffering the tough loss on a night he received no help from the hitters was Whales starter Huang Hong-ren, who allowed six runs on eight hits over five innings for his fourth setback of the year.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Whales 11, Elephants 9
The Chinatrust Whales took less than a day to vent their frustration over the shutout loss to the Lions as they erupted for eleven runs on Friday evening to defeat the Brother Elephants at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang.
Lefty Nee Fu-deh was rock-solid, tossing two-run ball on a half-dozen hits for the Whales over seven sharp frames as he left the game with a commanding 11-2 lead.
Even though the Elephants would make a game of it by ringing up seven unanswered runs over the final two innings, and actually had the tying run at the plate on the final out of the game, it was too little too late for them as Whales closer Lorenzo Barcelo calmly recorded the final three outs to preserve the win.
Bulls 9, T-Rex 6
Hsieh Jia-shien homered for the second time in as many games for dmedia T-Rex, but it was not nearly enough to deliver the win for his club as they dropped a 9-6 decision to the Sinon Bulls in Hsinchu on Friday.
“Getting runs on the board has never been a problem for us. It’s giving up just as many, if not more, that is killing us,” T-Rex manager Lin Kuen-wei said after the game.
His club are third in the league for the most runs scored with 325, but dead last in the league for most runs allowed with 362 (from 65 games).
Benefiting from the poor pitching by the T-Rex was Sinon starter Yang Jien-fu, who collected his fourth win of the season with three allowed runs on five hits over six innings of work.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set