Kuo Dai-chi’s bases-loaded two-run single capped a three-run spurt as the Uni-President Lions broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth to defeat the La New Bears 5-1 at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium last night.
Even though neither team had anything to play for as far as the post-season was concerned, since both had been eliminated from the playoffs long before last night, it did not keep the players from showcasing what they do best as they strived to finish the season on a high.
Most notable on the night was the Lions’ Liu Fu-hao, who snagged four stolen bases against Bears catcher Huang Hao-ran to take a two-base lead over the Sinon Bulls’ Cheng Da-hong for the season.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
“The coach gave me the green light all the way tonight, so I went whenever I thought I had a chance,” Liu said after the game.
He made the most of the three walks he drew by going a stunning four-for-five in the stolen base department.
Also starring for the Cats was veteran slugger Chen Lien-hong, who took Bears reliever Hsu Ming-jeh deep for a pinch-hit solo homer to lead off the bottom of the eighth to close out what could be the final season of his 14-year career.
“We are all thrilled to see him swing the bat as well as he did in this game,” Liu said in his post-game interview.
The Lions needed only two at-bats to plate their first run of the game, with Liu drawing a lead-off walk against Bears starter Chen Cheng-da, stealing second and third against the rookie side-armer and scoring on Huang Kang-lin’s single to left.
Chen Cheng-da would regroup in a hurry to shut down the Lions offense through the fourth to give his club a chance to tie the game up at 1-1 in the fourth on three straight singles off Lions starter Pan Jung-rong.
That was the extent the rookie hurler could handle the defending champions as he faltered in the decisive fifth, coughing up three runs (four overall) to end his campaign on a down note.
Pan was credited with his first win of the year in only his second start, allowing a lone run on five hits in as many innings. He had served primarily as a reliever prior to last night’s contest.
Today, the Lions take on the Brother Elephants in Tainan at 2:05pm, while the Bears face the Sinon Bulls in Kaohsiung County at the same time.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife.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
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
NBA team owners on Tuesday authorized league officials to begin an in-depth analysis regarding expansion, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there was no timetable for any changes. The NBA board of governors meeting in Las Vegas marked the first time team owners officially discussed expanding the league beyond 30 teams, but Silver said they went no deeper than requesting more research into the possibility. “There is a significant step now in that we’re now engaging in this in-depth analysis,” Silver said. “It’s something we weren’t prepared to do before, but beyond that, it’s really day one of that analysis. In terms
RSS