Tseng Hao-jui’s two-out triple in the bottom of the fourth broke a 7-7 tie for the La New Bears, who went on to defeat the playoff-bound Uni-President Lions 9-7 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Sunday.
The tie-breaking run came on the back of two Lions runs in both the third and the fourth, giving the Bears a much needed morale boost and avoiding what would have been an embarrassing loss in front of a home crowd in their season finale.
The slugfest, which featured 16 combined runs on 27 hits, saw the visitors jump to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first on Cheng Nai-wen’s three-run homer off Bears starter Hsu Wen-hsiung.
The lead lasted less than an inning as the Bears answered by sending a dozen men to the plate for seven runs in the bottom of the first off Lions starter Nerio “N-Rod” Rodriguez.
After Tseng’s go-ahead triple gave the Bears an 8-7 lead, they tacked on an insurance run against the defending champs in the fifth with Tsai Tsong-yo’s opposite-field single off Rodriguez.
That was enough for Bears veteran Chang Chih-jia, who entered in the sixth and delivered four impeccable innings of relief to win his 10th game of the year.
A pair of errors by the Lions defense led to five unearned runs and left N-Rod with the loss.
BULLS 11, ELEPHANTS 5
Seven big runs in the fourth by the Sinon Bulls erased an early deficit as they topped the Brother Elephants 11-5 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Sunday to deal the slumping Elephants their fifth straight loss.
Starter Lin Keh-chien was the biggest beneficiary of the seven-run fourth as it gave the rookie a 7-3 lead, allowing manager Hsu Sheng-ming to keep him in the game long enough for his 10th win of the season despite Lin giving up back-to-back homers in the first.
Cheng Da-hong, Chen Chih-wei and Wilton Veras connected for three hits each to account for seven of the Bulls’ 11 runs.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
RSS