Tsan Chih-yao’s high chopper to third, which Wilton Veras did not have a chance to field cleanly, scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th for the La New Bears as they beat the Sinon Bulls 9-8 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night.
The speedy rookie outfielder, whose trademark smile has won the hearts of many young female fans, rose to the occasion with a two-out single to help his club win for the first time in a week, nipping a dreadful four-game slide.
The home Bears jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the opening frame when Lin Chih-sheng and Chen Chin-fong drove in a pair of runs off Sinon starter Shoda Itsuki.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The lead last less than an inning as the Bulls came back and struck for three runs on run-scoring doubles by Cheng Jau-han and Chang Jien-ming to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the second.
After Shih Chih-wei’s opposite-field single in the bottom of the second tied the game at 3-all, the home Bears doubled their lead in the fourth when Lin went deep against Shoda for a three-run homer, his league-leading 30th of the season.
Sinon managed to get two of the runs back to keep the La New lead at a run, but the Bears claimed an 8-5 lead in the sixth on consecutive RBI singles from Jacob Cruz and Pan Chung-wei for a seemingly comfortable cushion.
Failure to keep the Bulls hitters in check on the part of the La New bullpen allowed the Bulls back in the game with a pair of seventh-inning runs, courtesy of Cheng’s two-run single off Bears reliever Keng Bo-hsuen.
The Bulls eventually tied the game up in the eighth when Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien came through with a clutch two-out single off Hsu Ming-jeh with runners on first and second to send the game into extra innings.
Picking up the win for the Bears was Lee Fong-hua, who tossed a scoreless 11th for his first “W” of the year to beat his counterpart Ricardo Rodriguez, who gave up the game-winning run in the end.
LIONS 5, ELEPHANTS 3
Luther Hackman tossed seven strong innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts to lead the Uni-President Lions past the Brother Elephants at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Tuesday night, extending the Cats’ winning streak to four in a row.
The win cut the Elephants’ lead over the second-place Lions to 4.5 games in the second-half standings as the latter looked to finish out the second half strong in order to gain a first-round bye in the upcoming postseason.
Hsu Fong-bin’s RBI groundout broke a 2-all tie in the bottom of the second for the Lions, who went on to lead it 5-2 before holding off a late-game rally by the Elephants to win by a 5-3 margin.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
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