Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s two-out single with a runner on third scored the only run of the game for the Brother Elephants in the top of the first as they blanked the Sinon Bulls 1-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The win nipped a four-game losing skid for the men in the golden uniform, and helped avoid what would have been a three-game sweep in the weekend series against the first-half champs.
Starter Carlos Castillo scattered six hits over seven scoreless innings to win his team-best ninth of the year while fanning three and walking none. He was the beneficiary of two shaky but effective innings of relief by closer Ryan Cullen, who pitched into and out of trouble in both innings to preserve the win for Castillo.
Cullen gave up an infield single to start the bottom of the ninth, but pitched out of a jam by retiring the next three batters to strand the tying run on third.
The Bulls outhit the Elephants by a sizable 8-5 margin. However, failure to come up with the big hit cost them the game as they batted a dismal 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, with the lone hit being an infield single that did not drive in a run.
Lions 4, Bears 3
Tu Chuang-shun’s walk-off single scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Uni-President Lions rallied from two down with three unanswered runs to top the La New Bears 4-3 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The Cats found themselves trailing by two at the bottom of the eighth but got a run off Bear reliever Tseng Jau-hao on the strength of three consecutive singles.
Kuo Dai-chi led off the bottom of the ninth with a clean double off La New closer Geng Bo-hsuen and scored the tying run two outs later on Kuo Jung-yo’s game-tying double to set the stage for Tu’s clincher.
Lin Cheng-fong was credited with the win for pitching a scoreless ninth, while the loss went to Geng, who blew his second save of the season by surrendering the game-winner.
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
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