Capitalizing on four costly errors by the Uni-President Lions’ defense that led to five unearned runs, the La New Bears topped their foes 8-3 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Saturday night.
The win kept the Bears’ hopes of a first-half title alive as they trail the top-ranked Cats by just half a game in the standings, adding even more drama to the tight race between the two clubs.
Saturday night’s contest began with the visiting Lions striking first in the top of the first when Jose Castillo got a hold of a pitch from Bears starter Chang Chih-jia and deposited it into the left-field seats for a two-run blast.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The hosts hit back with a solo homer of their own from Lin Chih-sheng in the bottom of the same inning off Lions ace Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen that cut the lead by half. They tied the game up in the third when Chen Chin-fong lined an opposite-field single to the right to score a runner from third.
Neither offense would score again over the next two innings until a throwing error by Yang Dong-yi on what would have been an inning-ending double play with runners on first and second, scoring a runner from second to give the Bears a 3-2 lead in the sixth.
Miscues on the part of the Lions defense would prove costly in what ended up being a five-run seventh for the Bears as Castillo misfielded a sharp grounder to third by Huang Hao-rang with the bases loaded that scored all three runners after the Bears had struck for two more runs earlier in the inning.
Trailing by six, the Lions managed to plate a run in the ninth, but it was too little too late.
Picking up the win for the Bears was Chang who improved to 6-4 for the year as the former hurler for the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League allowed two runs on nine hits over six frames.
Taking the loss was “Du Du,” who surrendered seven runs (only two earned) on 10 hits over six-and-a-third innings of work to drop to 7-5 for the year.
Yesterday’s results:
• Lions 10, Elephants 7
• Bulls 13, Bears 5
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was