Aaron Rakers tossed six shutout innings of four-hit ball and Chen Chin-fong hit his league-leading 16th homer of the year as the La New Bears blanked the Brother Elephants 9-0 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday night.
The win not only nipped a four-game slide for the Bears, but also gave them a 5-0 record in all five of the games they have played in Sinjhuang so far this season, making it a friendly home away from their home field in Kaohsiung.
The Bears wasted little time getting to Brother starter Mike Smith with Chen’s solo blast to left-center in the top of the second for a quick 1-0 advantage before tacking on two more in the fourth on consecutive run-scoring base hits by Shih Chih-wei and Pan Chung-wei that made it 3-0.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
A three-run fifth quickly doubled the Bears’ lead to 6-0 before they blew it wide open with three more in the sixth that virtually sealed the win long before the final out.
Rakers was credited with his seventh win of the season as he became the league’s first seven-game winner.
Taking the tough loss was fellow countryman Smith, who allowed eight runs (six earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks as he remained winless at 0-2 in the three starts he had since joining the Elephants late last month.
LIONS 10, ELEPHANTS 3
Capitalizing on seven costly errors by the Elephants defense, the Uni-President Lions tallied up 10 runs on only eight hits to seize victory in Sinjhuang on Thursday evening and avenge Wednesday night’s loss to the Elephants.
The Elephants tied a club record for most errors committed in a single inning with three in the top of the first that allowed two runs to score.
They found themselves falling further behind over the next two innings by allowing two more runs in the second and third.
Wang Tzu-song’s three-run shot off Elephants starter Kobayashi Ryokan in the fifth made it 9-1, and that was more than enough for the Lions pitching as they gave up two meaningless runs the rest of the way en route to claim the big win.
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
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
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,
RSS