Chen Guan-ren’s clutch single in the bottom of the seventh broke a 6-all tie to help the Brother Elephants overcome a three-run deficit and beat the Uni-President Lions 7-6 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Saturday night.
The fourth-year slugger from Taipei Physical Education College was sidelined for nearly four months because of an injury on Opening Day, but has been unstoppable since his return midway through last month, with a .333 average and 17 RBIs in the 14 games he played. Chen leads the Elephants in total offensive production over the same period.
The showdown between Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen of the Lions and former major leaguer Tsao Chin-hui of the Elephants was anything but spectacular, as both teams’ offenses had their way early in the game.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
While Du Du quickly settled in and kept the Elephants’ bats in check from the third through the fifth, Tsao was more generous, serving up three more runs over the third and fourth to fall behind 3-5.
The Lions added another run in the fifth off reliever Yeh Yong-jeh to open a 6-3 cushion, prompting skipper Lu Wen-sheng to replace Du Du with Lin Cheng-fong. But the Elephants hitters attacked the Lions reliever with a run in the sixth before rallying for three in the seventh to lead 7-6.
That was all they needed for the win, with setup man Mai Jia-rei retiring the side in order during the eighth and closer Ryan Cullen doing the same in the ninth to pick up his seventh save in nine chances.
Lions reliever Kao Jien-san took the mound during the seventh with the bases loaded and allowed two singles and a walk, blowing the save for his second loss of the of the season.
BULLS 14, BEARS 2
The Sinon Bulls plated 14 runs over the first five innings and went on to defeat the La New Bears 14-2 at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Saturday evening.
Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien homered twice on a 3-for-4 effort with four RBIs, while Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan added his seventh blast of the year — also on a three-hit, four-RBI night — to blow the game wide open.
With the offense spotting him a plentiful 6-0 after just two innings of play, Sinon starter Lin Ying-jeh cruised through the fifth in a three-hit gem of his own before turning to his bullpen en route to his first win in nearly four months, improving his record to 3-5 for the year.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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