Tsai Tsung-yo drove in a career-high four runs on a 2-for-3 night to lift the La New Bears past the Uni-President Lions 6-4 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night, starting the week with a big win for the home Bears.
The win not only ended a four-game winning streak for the red-hot Lions, who had won nine of their last 10 heading into Wednesday’s contest, but also extended the Bears’ winning run to four in a row. The Bears cut the league-leading Lions’ lead in the standings to 1.5 games with seven games remaining in the first half of the season.
Kao Guo-ching’s solo homer leading off the top of the second gave the Cats an early 1-0 lead, only to see the Bears answer with four runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning, highlighted by a two-run single with the bases loaded by Tsai.
The Bears widened their lead by two in the third with another two-run single by the third-year infielder to make the score 6-1, which lasted all the way to the top of the ninth before the Lions made things interesting by loading up the bases with no outs against Bears reliever Geng Bo-hsuen.
That prompted skipper Hong Yi-chung to send in ace closer Jermaine Van Buren, who gave up three runs on back-to-back singles to Jose Castillo and Kao that made it 6-4 before retiring the next three hitters to preserve the win.
Picking up the win was Bears starter Chang Chih-jia, who pitched his side into and out of trouble throughout the 5-2/3 innings he worked to allow only a run on eight hits and a pair of walks.
Taking the loss was Lions starter Pan Jung-rong, who lasted just 2-2/3 innings with six allowed runs on eight hits in his first loss of the year.
ELEPHANTS 4, BULLS 0
Behind the stellar pitching of Tsao Chin-hui, the Brother Elephants blanked the Sinon Bulls in Taichung on Tuesday evening to nip a four-game losing skid.
The former major leaguer tossed six shutout innings of five-hit ball in a rare midweek appearance that drew more than 5,000 spectators to the ballpark.
They were rewarded by seeing their hero bounce back nicely from a tough loss to the Bears last Saturday, when he allowed two runs on five hits in just two innings.
Offensively for the victorious Elephants, eight of the nine starters had a hit in the game, with Wang Jin-yong and Liu Geng-hsin leading the pack with an RBI apiece off game-loser Lin Keh-chien.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
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NBA team owners on Tuesday authorized league officials to begin an in-depth analysis regarding expansion, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there was no timetable for any changes. The NBA board of governors meeting in Las Vegas marked the first time team owners officially discussed expanding the league beyond 30 teams, but Silver said they went no deeper than requesting more research into the possibility. “There is a significant step now in that we’re now engaging in this in-depth analysis,” Silver said. “It’s something we weren’t prepared to do before, but beyond that, it’s really day one of that analysis. In terms
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