Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min tied a league mark for most hits in a single game with five to earn the Brother Elephants a 9-3 win over the Sinon Bulls in Taichung on Tuesday.
The crowd favorite and media darling for the Elephants, who leads the league in hitting with a .393 average, and is expected to add to his record-breaking three straight batting titles (2003-2005) with a fourth one this season, showed why he is one of the most feared players at the plate by going a perfect 5-for-5 with two RBIs against Sinon.
The Elephants jumped to quick 6-1 lead with a pair of runs each during the first three frames before tacking on three more in the seventh to put the game away.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Also starring for the Elephants were sluggers Chen Chih-yuan and Chen Rei-chen who collected a pair of base hits each to help their club win its third in a row and sixth in the past seven games.
With the Elephants playing their best ball for a long time, the hunt for the second-half title could go down to the wire as they trail the second-placed Uni-President Lions by a half-game and the top-ranked Bears by a full game in the standings with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Picking up the win for the Elephants was Danny Core with three allowed runs on six hits over five -and-two-thirds innings.
BEARS 5, WHALES 4
Lin Chih-sheng’s walk-off single with two outs and the bases loaded scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth for the La New Bears as they overcame an early three-run deficit to defeat the Chinatrust Whales in a dramatic win in Kaohsiung on Tuesday evening.
The home Bears fell behind early with three quick runs surrendered by starter Hsu Wen-hsiung in the top of the first, but managed to tie the game up at 3-all by the end of the fourth, highlighted by Tseng Hao-jui’s two-run home run off Whales starter Nee Fu-deh.
Chiang Chih-tsong’s one-run single gave the Bears a brief lead in the sixth only to see the marine creatures fight back with a tying run in the seventh to set the stage for Lin’s dramatic finish in the ninth.
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
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Ryan Yarbrough picked up a dazzling World Series ring from his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. Then he went out and beat them. The New York Yankees starter on Sunday pitched one-run ball over six innings, struck out a season-high five and blanked the Dodgers’ top four hitters in a 7-3 win. “I feel like I’m in a really good place right now and really trying to continue that,” Yarbrough said. “I’m having a lot of fun.” The 33-year-old left-hander made 44 relief appearances between the Dodgers and Blue Jays last season. The Dodgers designated him for assignment on July
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