Itsuki Shoda pitched seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball and Lin Yi-chuan drove in a 2-for-4 hitting as the Sinon Bulls blanked the Brother Elephants 3-0 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Saturday night.
The win was Shoda’s 14th of the year — giving him the league lead, with one more than La New Bears great Aaron Rakers. The Japanese native also nabbed the strikeout title with five K’s, giving him a league-best 115 this season, five more than runner-up Rakers’ 110.
Sinon’s dominance over the Bears in individual achievements also ran on the offensive side as Lin’s RBI gave the rookie sensation 111 for the year, one more than the Bears’ Lin Chih-sheng’s 110. The two were to duke it out in the final game of the season yesterday to determine who will take home the title.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
As for the game on Saturday, the Bulls capitalized on what turned out to be a two-run error by the Elephants’ Chu Hong-seng, whose poor throw to home on a potential inning-ending double play led to two unearned runs in the bottom of the second.
Shoda cruised through the seventh unharmed, before Shen Yu-jeh and Lin Ying-jeh came out of the bullpen and combined for two scoreless innings of relief.
The Elephants failed to make good on any of the seven hits they mustered (compared with the Bulls’ six), stranding nine runners.
BEARS 3, LIONS 1
The La New Bears won their third straight of the week by downing the Uni-President Lions 3-1 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Saturday evening.
Rakers was magnificent in probably his last start of the year by tossing seven innings of one-run ball to win his team-best 13th game of the year.
Also starring for the Bears were Lin Chih-sheng and Chung Cheng-yo, whose respective solo and two-run homers off Lions starter Luther Hackman in the bottom of the fourth accounted for all of the Bears’ runs.
Hackman took a tough loss, putting in eight innings of three-run ball with six strikeouts and a lone walk. Other than the two pitches that Lin Chih-sheng and Chung crushed for homers, the American righty was rock-solid — a good sign for skipper Lu Wen-sheng, who looks to Hackman to follow his two wins in the Taiwan Series last year with another strong outing this year to help the Lions defend their third straight title.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
Saudi Arabia yesterday were drawn to take on Iraq and Indonesia in the fourth phase of Asia’s preliminaries for next year’s FIFA World Cup, with back-to-back Asian Cup winners Qatar to face the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. The winners of each of the three-team groups, which are to be played in October, would join already-qualified Australia, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Iran and Jordan at next year’s expanded 48-nation finals in the US, Canada and Mexico. Saudi Arabia, who are attempting to qualify for a seventh World Cup finals since 1994, are to host Group A and open against Indonesia on
Ukrainian coal miner Andrii’s face lit up when he talked about meeting Oleksandr Usyk. “Wow,” the 36-year-old said in English. Andrii and more than a dozen other war veterans were on hand when Usyk beat Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion. It was a rematch of their 2023 bout that Andrii viewed under vastly different circumstances. “I watched this fight on the front line on my phone,” he said through an interpreter during a stop on Friday at the Ukrainian Embassy in London. “We were watching very quietly, but when he won there was loud