The struggling Uni-President Lions showed signs of a resurgence with a convincing 4-0 win over the Sinon Bulls at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night for their second win in as many days.
It was only the second time in six weeks that the first-half champs have won two in a row, putting a big smile on skipper Lu Wen-sheng’s face. His Big Cats had lost five straight and 12 of their past 13 over a horrendous stretch prior to Friday night’s win against the Bulls.
“We really needed this one,” Lu said after the game.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
His club have already clinched a postseason berth with their first-half title, but are four games behind the top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys in the second half for the best overall record, which would earn them a first-round bye in the playoffs and an automatic spot in the Taiwan Series.
Starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen tossed four innings of shutout ball giving up two hits and seemed well on his way for his first win since early May after an injury had sideline him for more than four months. However, Du Du has to wait at least another game for that elusive victory as he was pulled with two outs into the fifth because of an arm injury that put him one out short of the minimum five innings required for starters to qualify for a win.
While the seriousness on Pan’s injury remained uncertain, the Lions were able to get a splendid effort from Chen Yung-chi, who went a perfect 3 for 3 with a pair of RBIs. It was Chen’s best outing at the plate since returning from a knee injury in May that sidelined him for three months.
The Lions also got a great relief appearance from Wang Jing-ming, who picked up the win on 1-1/3 innings of perfect relief by retiring all four of the batters he faced for his 10th win of the season.
ELEPHANTS 6, MONKEYS 0
Teeing off against the opposing pitching for 18 hits, the Brother Elephants overwhelmed the Lamigo Monkeys in a shutout to even the weekend series at one win apiece.
The win also avenged a 5-0 blanking by the Monkeys the night before for the men in the golden uniform as they cut the Monkeys’ second-half lead to a single game with six games remaining in the season.
Starter Cheng Chi-hong improved to 9-2 for the year with six innings of shutout ball, while Bryan Corey was charged with the loss.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before