Scoring nine runs in each game, the Brother Elephants defeated the Uni-President Lions 9-3 and 9-7 in their day-night double-header at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu yesterday to take the three-game weekend series against the defending champions.
Back-to-back errors by the Lions defense, coupled with some crafty hitting on the part of the Elephants, led to a five-run fourth inning that broke a 3-3 tie in the opening game.
That was more than ample for Elephants starter Jim Magrane, who overcame a shaky first three innings in which he allowed a pair of solo homers to the Lions’ Kuo Dai-chi, cruising through to the eighth without giving up another run for his fourth win of the year.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Offensively for the victorious Elephants, Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s three-for-five hitting with two RBIs on a pair of doubles led an attack that pounded out a dozen hits off four different Lions hurlers to humble the defending champs.
The Elephants hitters would score five runs in an inning for the second time in the night game as they came up big in a five-run seventh that turned a 3-5 deficit into a 8-5 lead en route to a 9-7 win.
Homers by “Chia Chia” and Chen Guan-ren played a big part in this one, as the former’s two-run shot sparked the five-run seventh, while the latter’s two-run blast in the third got the team on the board.
The batting tandem for the Elephants would end up driving in seven of their team’s nine runs in a contest that sent the Lions to a record-setting ninth straight loss.
“I guess I am seeing the ball a lot better as of late,” a smiling “Chia Chia” said after the game.
His five RBIs on the day would put him three short of the league best 37, held by Lin Chih-sheng of the Bears.
Picking up the win for the Elephants was starter Carlos Castillo who improved to 4-1 for the year with eight decent innings of work, allowing five runs on nine hits.
Trailing by four heading into the top of the ninth, the Lions actually plated a pair of runs off Ryan Cullen to rattle the Elephants closer, but Cullen would calmly retire the final three hitters he faced to keep the win intact.
Bears 8, Bulls 2
Bulls 2, Bears 0
The league-leading Sinon Bulls bounced back nicely from an 8-2 loss in the opening game of their double-header against the La New Bears by winning the nightcap with a 2-0 shutout to earn a 1-1 split in their two-game set at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium yesterday.
Lin Yi-chuan’s solo blast off Bears starter Ken Ray in the bottom of the second was the difference on the night as the Bulls kept the potent Bears’ offense off the board, with starter Yang Jien-fu tossing six-and-two-third scoreless innings of four-hit ball, before his bullpen came in to keep the shutout intact.
The opening game was all-Bears from the go as they erupted for six quick runs off Sinon starter Lin Chi-wei over the first three frames to spot game-winner Chris Mason a 6-2 lead.
Mason is now 7-2 for the season, while Lin fell to 6-2 with the loss.
The Lions face the Elephants in Tianmu again today at 5:05pm, while the Bears take on the Bulls in Taichung at the same time.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set