Taiwan followed their big win against Cuba on Thursday with a narrow 3-2 victory over Germany on Friday in the final game of the preliminaries of this year’s World Port Baseball Tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to close out the round with a tournament-leading 7-1 record.
Taiwan had already cemented a spot in the final, so with the outcome of the game meaningless to Taiwan, skipper Chen Wei-cheng opted to make it a group effort at the mound, using six different hurlers to take on the German lineup that actually led Taiwan briefly in their opening match of the tournament on June 23, before falling short by two run in Taiwan’s 5-3 victory.
The decision by Chen proved effective over the first seven innings as the fresh arms of Taiwan kept the German bats at bay, pitching seven shutout frames as Taiwan clang onto a 3-0 advantage.
However, trouble struck in the eighth inning against the fifth Taiwan pitcher used in the game, Lin Po-yu, who recorded two quick outs, before serving up a two-run double to make it a one-run game.
Fortunately for Taiwan, that was as close as Germany got as Lin worked out of a jam without further damage, before Lin Chen-hua tossed a perfect ninth to preserve the narrow win.
Picking up the win was Cheng Wen-hao, who chipped in two innings of scoreless relief, while the loss went to German starter Tim Henkenjohann.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two