The Uni-President Lions continued their winning ways with a convincing 8-2 victory over the La New Bears on the road in Kaohsiung on Friday night to extend their streak to four in a row.
Starter Chris Gissell of the US took a 4-0 shutout two outs into the seventh before surrendering a run on three straight singles to end his night. He allowed at least a runner on in all but two of the innings he pitched, but managed to get out of trouble on each occasion until the Bears finally broke through.
Leading the Lions attack — which had averaged an astonishing 11 runs per game during their four-game winning streak — were Pan Wu-hsiung and Chen Lien-hong, whose combined 5-for-11 hitting with four RBIs accounted for half of the Lions’ total run production.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Also starring for the defending champs was outfielder Yang Song-hsuen, whose several fine defensive plays stole at least a run from the Bears.
After scoring in the seventh to avoid the shutout, the Bears managed to plate another run in the eighth on a solo homer by Nate Gold. That was as close as they got as they dropped their fourth game in six against their archrivals from Tainan.
Gissell picked up his third win of the season, allowing a run on nine hits over six-and-two-third innings to beat his counterpart Hsu Wen-hsiung, who is winless in his last 12 starts against the Lions and sports a dismal 0-8 record in those games.
BULLS 9, ELEPHANTS 2
Scoring early and often, the league-leading Sinon Bulls trounced the Brother Elephants at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday.
It was the ninth straight loss that the Elephants suffered since winning their 899th game in club history on April 10.
Four quick runs by the Bulls off Elephants starter Liu Yu-chan in the opening inning set the tone early and they tacked on five more over the next three frames for a commanding 9-0 lead.
That was more than ample for Sinon starter Lin Ying-jeh, who pitched a one-hit gem over seven shutout innings before his bullpen closed the deal.
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