Liao “the Golden Submarine” Yu-cheng pitched 6-1/3 innings of two-run ball and Chen Rei-chen drove in a pair of runs on a 2-for-4 hitting as the Brother Elephants ran away with a 5-2 win over the Uni-President Lions at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Sunday to sweep the three-game series against the defending champs.
The win not only padded the top-ranked Elephants’ lead over the second-place La New Bears to four games, but also extended their non-losing streak to four in a row, clearly making them the team to beat in the second half of the season.
Liu Geng-shin’s opposite-field single with two outs got the Elephants on the board first in the bottom of the third before Chen Guan-ren tripled and scored on Chen Rei-chen’s RBI single in the fourth that made it 2-0 in favor of the Elephants.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
After a scoreless fifth, the Elephants hitters got back to work with another run in the sixth, courtesy of an infield single from Chen Guan-ren.
The Cats finally answered with a pair of runs in the seventh to close the gap to a lone run, but that was as close as they would get as the Elephants bounced back and connected for a run in the bottom of the same inning, followed with an insurance run in the eighth to seal the win.
Picking up his third straight win to boost his team-best winning total to eight games was the Golden Submarine, who pitched a four-hit gem over 6-1/3 frames before turning to his stingy bullpen to preserve the victory.
Suffering the loss was Lions starter Pan Jung-rong, who pitched well enough for a win with four allowed runs on seven hits over six innings, but dismal run support from his offense managed only two runs on five hits in a losing cause.
BEARS 7, BULLS 3
The La New Bears bounced back from a blowout loss to the Sinon Bulls on Saturday with a 7-3 triumph over their nemeses in Hsinchu on Sunday to take the three-game weekend set 2-1.
Lin Chih-sheng continued his recent long-ball surge with his fourth homer in the last five games, a two-run shot off Pedro Liriano in the seventh, to raise his league-high home run total to 24 (in 70 games).
Also going deep for the second straight game was the Bulls’ Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien, whose two-run shot off La New reliever Huang Chin-chih in the eighth brought his team to within a deuce before the Bears struck for two more in the ninth to put the game away.
Starter Chang Chih-jia earned his eighth win of the year with seven solid innings of one-run ball, even though he gave up eight of the dozen hits that the Bulls managed as they actually outhit the victors 12-to-10.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
SEMI-FINAL SWEEP: Taiwanese are to take up all four berths in the men’s doubles semi-finals, while three Taiwanese women’s doubles pairings secured spots Taiwan’s badminton ace Chou Tien-chen stayed hot as he secured a semi-final berth in the men’s singles at the US Open at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday. Chou entered the Super 300 tournament as the top seed and breezed past Victor Lai of Canada 21-19, 21-8 in 37 minutes, advancing to the semi-finals for the second straight tournament. Earlier this month, the 35-year-old veteran finished runner-up at the Indonesia Open, becoming the oldest male shuttler to reach a Super 1000-level final. He was set to face Ayush Shetty of India last night after press time for a spot in the final. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Taiwanese
PROMISING TALENT: Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso was pleased with youngster Gonzalo’s performance and compared him to former ‘Los Blancos’ great Raul Spanish giants Real Madrid on Tuesday beat Juventus 1-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final clash against Borussia Dortmund, who edged Mexican side Monterrey. Serhou Guirassy struck twice for the German outfit as they scraped past Sergio Ramos’ side 2-1 in a tight last-16 clash in Atlanta, Georgia, and denied the former Real Madrid skipper a matchup against his former team. Youngster Gonzalo Garcia headed home his third goal of the tournament to help Madrid edge Italian side Juventus at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami earlier. It was an impressive display from Xabi Alonso’s Madrid side,
RSS