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.
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