Homering for the third time in as many games, Lin Chih-sheng connected for a two-run blast to rally the La New Bears past the Sinon Bulls 6-1 at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Friday evening.
The veteran slugger, who leads the league in total long balls at 23 for the season, also overtook the top spot in total RBIs from Bulls slugger Lin Yi-chuen. Lin Chih-sheng drove his RBI total to a whopping 78 in the 68 games he has played.
“We all get hot from time to time and I am just trying to ride this one out for as long as I can,” Lin Chih-sheng told reporters after the Bears’ fourth straight win.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
He also enjoyed a five-game home-run streak earlier this season when he smashed seven homers over a five-game span.
The duel between foreign hurlers Aaron Rakers for the Bears and Ricardo Rodriguez for the Bulls lasted through the sixth, with the only run a solo homer by Bulls batter Wilton Veras in the fourth.
But things went south in the seventh when the Bears came out of hibernation and erupted for six unanswered runs, highlighted by a pair of two-run shots from Lin Chih-sheng and fellow hitter Pan Chung-wei.
Despite belting seven hits off three different La New pitchers — with three of the seven going for extra bases — the Bulls went a futile 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Rakers was credited with his 10th win of the year for allowing one run on five hits over six frames, with two strikeouts and no walks.
He is now 10-3 with a team-best 3.63 ERA — the third best in the league.
ELEPHANTS 3, LIONS 0
Chou Si-chi’s two-out single with a runner on second cracked a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, with the Brother Elephants going on to blank the Uni-President Lions 3-0 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday night.
Also starring for the men in the golden uniforms was starter Mike Smith, who pitched seven-and-a-third innings of five-hit ball, with five strikeouts and no walks.
The Elephant’s Kuo Yi-fong also came through with a rare triple in the seventh to knock in a pair of insurance runs.
The Lions had several scoring opportunities in the game, with runners reaching scoring position in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings on the seven hits they mustered off Smith and the Elephants bullpen. They came up empty on all of them, however, dropping their third in a row in heartbreaking fashion.
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