The Brother Elephants made it look easy against the Uni-President Lions as they erupted for 14 runs in a 14-8 rout at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night to start the week with a splash.
Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min homered twice to champion an offense that spotted starter Lee Hao-ren an overwhelming 13-0 lead to help the rookie win his first career start.
Also starring for the men in the golden uniform was Chen Rei-chen, who connected for three hits to knock in a pair of runs on a night when six different hitters contributed with multi-hit outings.
The Lions finally got on the board in the seventh after being held to four hits by Lee through the fifth and Tsao Jung-yang in the sixth, when Kuo Dai-chi scored on an RBI single by Cheng Nai-wen off Tsao in what ended up being a five-run innings.
They tacked on three more over the final two frames, even though the outcome of the game was never in doubt.
The disappointing loss by the Lions masked what was an outstanding offensive game for outfielder Liu Fu-hao, who also went deep twice on a 3-for-4 night with four RBIs in his first career multi-homer game.
BULLS 7, BEARS 0
Ricardo Rodriguez became the first player in the league to pick up a complete-game shutout this season with a brilliant five-hitter against the La New Bears in Taichung that boosted the home Sinon Bulls to an impressive 7-0 win on Tuesday evening.
The Dominican standout, who joined the Bulls right before the All-Star break, kept a potent Bears offense off balance throughout the contest, allowing all but one of the first dozen hitters he faced and only three Bears hitters to reach scoring position.
Offensively for the Bulls, Deng Shih-yang’s perfect 5-for-5 hitting with an RBI led an attack that roughed up Bears starter Huang Hong-ren with six runs over the first four innings to deal the second-year righty his first loss of the year.
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put