An error by the Lions shortstop on a double-steal attempt by the Brother Elephants led to the only run of the evening as the Elephants defeated the Lions 1-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu for their sixth straight win.
With runners at the corners and two outs in a scoreless tie, the Elephants attempted a double-steal against Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen and his catcher Chen Jung-hu.
Although the Lions guessed correctly — with Pan throwing a pitchout to Chen on the play to give his catcher plenty of time to gun down the runner at second — the play succeeded.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The showdown between Pan and Elephants starter Tsao Chin-hui saw Tsao take a three-hit shutout one out into the seventh, while Du Du lasted eight strong innings with one unearned run on five scattered singles.
“If it hadn’t been for the error that scored the run, we’d probably have gone into extra innings,” Tsao said after the game, complimenting a great outing by Du Du.
With the hard-earned lead, Elephants skipper Nakagomi Sin immediately went to setup man Matt Perisho after Tsao gave up a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh.
Perisho allowed a single to the first batter he faced to put runners on first and third with one out, but managed to get out of trouble by striking out the next hitter before inducing a grounder to short, ending the Lions scoring threat in the seventh.
The Elephants’ Mai Jia-rei then pitched a scoreless eighth and closer Ryan Cullen retired the side in order in a perfect ninth to keep the shutout intact.
Tsao picked up his eighth win of the season, allowing no runs on four hits over six-and-a-third frames to beat an unlucky Pan.
BULLS 9, BEARS 3
The Sinon Bulls won their second of a three-game series against the La New Bears in a 9-3 decision at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Saturday evening.
Three Sinon batters had multi-hit games, led by rookie sensation Lin Yi-chuan’s 4-for-5 at the plate, with a home run and five RBIs.
Also starring was speedy outfielder Yu Hsien-ming, who batted a perfect 4-for-4 and drove in a run for the Bulls.
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For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
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