Yeh Jung-chang’s clutch single following a double by Chang Chih-hao, all with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, broke a scoreless tie and the Brother Elephants held on to blank the Sinon Bulls 3-0 in Game 3 of the Taiwan Series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
Not only was it the Elephants’ third straight win, but more importantly, it gave them a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven annual Fall Classic as they look to close out the year in grand fashion by winning their first title since 2003.
It was especially sweet for Yeh to get the big hit against his former team, with which the veteran catcher had spent the last 10 seasons prior to being released at the end of last season, making the Bulls wonder if the decision was a prudent one after all.
“It feels great to be able to come through and get the job done with the game on the line,” Yeh said after the game.
His team is now a win away from sweeping the series in what could be the biggest upset in recent history, considering the fact that the Bulls were heavy favorites heading into the Taiwan Series.
Starter Orlando Roman allowed no runs on three hits despite walking four and fanning seven in a complete-game performance to earn his first postseason win in Taiwan.
His outstanding effort outshone an otherwise solid outing from Sinon starter Lin Ying-jeh, who pitched six-and-one-third innings of one-run ball on seven hits before the bullpen allowed a pair of insurance runs for the Elephants in the eighth to put the game away.
Failure to come up with the big hits ultimately cost the Bulls the game as they batted a futile 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position (compared with the Elephants’ 3-for-9 in the same situation), stranding a total of seven in a losing cause.
The normally potent heart of the Bulls’ order, consisting of Wang Hsin-min, Lin Yi-chuan and Chang “OEO” Tai-shan, all of whom batted no lower than .310 in the regular season, batted a combined 1-for-9 with no runs batted in on the night
“It’s hard to win when you don’t come up with the big hits when it counts the most,” Sinon manager Hsu Sheng-ming said, summarizing his team’s woes.
Game 4 will begin at 6:30 this evening at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in Taipei County, with the Bulls expected to start Japanese ace Shoda Itsuki and take on the Elephants’ Jim Magrane in a rematch of Game 1.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
RSS