Favorites won their respective games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League on Saturday with the top-ranked La New Bears downing the Chinatrust Whales 3-0 in Tienmu and the Uni-President Lions cruising past the dmedia T-Rex 7-3 in Sinjhuang to remain a game behind the Bears in the standings.
The Bears set a new club record for longest win-streak with their ninth straight, thanks to an outstanding performance by Chang Chih-jia who tossed seven scoreless innings of five-hit ball before the La New bullpen took over with a perfect eighth and ninth to keep the shutout intact.
Doing the damage on offense for the Bears were Gary Burnham and Pan Chung-wei who drove in a run with a pair of hits apiece to account for two of their team’s three runs.
The Whales had two scoring opportunities with runners reaching second during the first and sixth, but failed to come up with the clutch hits either time.
LIONS 7, T-REX 3
The Uni-President Lions took advantage of a six-run fourth to overcome an early deficit in a 7-3 win over the dmedia T-Rex.
Trailing 0-1 after three innings of play against dmedia starter Cory Bailey, the Lions erupted for six runs on the strength of eight singles off Bailey to lead 6-1.
That was enough for Aaron Fultz who regrouped after giving up the early dmedia run by allowing only two more runs through the eighth.
All but two of the Lions’ starting nine drove in a run on the night with Yang Song-hsuen’s 3-for-5 effort heading the pack.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two