Homers filled the sky over Tainan on Wednesday evening as the Uni-President Lions and La New Bears combined for five long balls on a night that ended in a sweet 9-3 win for the Cats.
Liu Fu-hao and Jose Castillo led the way for the Lions with a pair of two-run shots, the former breaking a 1-1 tie in the fourth, and the latter putting the Lions ahead for good in the fifth. The basing tandem of the Lions would end up with perfect three-for-three hitting, each with six combined RBIs to account for the bulk of the Lions total run production.
Also starring for the Lions was game-winner Lin Cheng-fong, who came out of the bullpen in the second inning with minimal warm-up to relieve an injured Lee Wei-hua. He held the Bears to a run on two hits through the fifth en route to his second win of the season.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taking the mound for the Bears was starter Hsu Wen-hsiung, who continued to struggle against the Lions as he lasted just four-and-two-third innings, with five allowed runs on six hits and four walks to lose his fourth game in seven starts against the Cats this year.
Offensively for the Bears, Chen Chin-fong led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run to up his season total to 20, joining fellow slugger Lin Chih-sheng as the only two players with 20 or more homers in the league this season.
Newcomer Jacob Cruz also made his presence felt by connecting for two homers, both solo shots off the Lions’ Kao Jien-san and Hsu Yu-wei, to give the American three dingers in the dozen games he has played.
The win by the Lions ended a dreadful five-game slide as they looked to keep pace with the Bears.
ELEPHANTS 7, BULLS 6
Three errors by the defense in the bottom of the ninth proved costly for the Sinon Bulls as they dropped a heartbreaker to the Brother Elephants 7-6 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Tuesday night.
The classic seesaw battle featured four different lead changes and saw the visiting Bulls skid ahead 4-0 in the top of the second on the strength of three singles and a double, before the Elephants fought back with five unanswered runs over the next three innings.
Chen Chih-wei’s RBI single in the sixth would tie the game up at 5-5, before the Bulls went ahead 6-5 in the top of the ninth from Lin Yi-chuen’s solo home run off Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li.
The Elephants, however, capitalized on the Bulls’ defensive errors that led to two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth to give them their fourth win in a row.
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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