Their inability to come up with the timely hits in the extra innings lead the Uni-President Lions and the Sinon Bulls to a 5-5 draw in a 12-inning marathon at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night, giving the Cats a 2-0-1 finish in the three-game weekend series against the Bulls.
Both teams had the chance to take the lead in the extra innings, as the Bulls placed runners in scoring position during the 11th and the 12th, while the Lions did the same during the 10th and the 12th.
However, they would bat a combined 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in the extra frames to end the four-plus hour marathon in a draw.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Even though the Bulls did not win the game, it was clearly a moral victory for them as they rallied from three down in the ninth inning to force the contest into extra innings.
Trailing 5-2 heading into the top of the ninth, the Bulls took the Lions’ Lin Yueh-ping head-on by slapping a pair of singles off the closer to set up Wu Tsong-jung’s sacrifice-fly to make it 5-3.
With runner on second, the next batter Su Jien-rong made Lin pay play by going deep for a two-run blast over the left-field wall to tie the game at 5-5.
ELEPHANTS 6, MONKEYS 3
The Brother Elephants doubled up the Lamigo Monkeys in a 6-3 final at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to avoid being swept in the three-game set over the weekend.
Wang Sheng-wei led off the game with a rare triple off Lamigo starter Steve Hammond for the defending champs and scored two batters later on Chang Cheng-wei’s RBI-groundout to give the Elephants a quick 1-0 advantage.
The Elephants would increase their lead to 3-0 with a run off Hammond in the second and the third, before the potent Lamigo lineup finally got on the board in a three-run fourth, highlighted by Chen Chin-fong’s two-run homer off Elephant starter Yeh Yong-jeh to tie the game at 3-all.
The score remained at 3-all during the next two frames until the Elephant hitters went to work again on Hammond in the sixth, this time with back-to-back doubles by Chen Guan-ren and Huang Shih-hao, to spark a three-run spurt to put their team ahead for good.
Guan Da-yuan was credited with his second win of the season with 4-1/3 innings of shutout relief on three hits to beat Hammond, who surrendered five runs on nine hits over 5-1/3 innings in his second setback of the year.
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put
RSS