The top-ranked Uni-President Lions swept the day-night doubleheader against the Sinon Bulls yesterday with victories by margins of 9-2 and 10-3 at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City.
Chang “OEO” Tai-shan’s sacrifice fly sparked a three-run seventh that blew a 3-1 game wide open in the day game as the defending champs scored six in the late innings to pick up the win.
Fu Yu-kang came out of the Lions bullpen and tossed 4-2/3 innings of one-run ball on three hits to beat Sinon starter Lin Yen-fong, who fared well with three allowed runs through the fifth, but fell victim to an anemic offense that came up short compared with Uni-President.
In the second game, it was all Lions from the get-go, as the Cats plated three in the opening frame on a pair of singles and doubles off Sinon starter Chang Geng-hao, to give Uni-President starter Yuya Kamada a quick 3-0 advantage before the Japanese right-hander even threw his first pitch.
Kamada acknowledged the generosity from his offense by pitching shutout ball through the fifth before giving up a two-run homer to the Bulls’ Chang Jien-ming to make it 5-2 through the top of the sixth.
That was as close as the Bulls got as the Lions’ bats answered with a four-run output in the bottom of the same inning.
Leadoff man Chen Yung-chi had a huge day at the plate with two homers to his credit; the first, a two-run blast off Chang Geng-hao to dead center; and the second, a solo shot off Hsu Wen-tsan to left to lead off the eighth.
Picking up his league-best fifth win of the season was Kamada, who allowed three runs on nine hits over seven innings to go to 5-0, while the loss was charged against Chang Geng-hao as the Sinon right-hander evened his season mark to 1-1.
ELEPHANTS 5, MONKEYS 1
The Brother Elephants avenged a tough loss on Friday in a rain-delayed affair with a win over the Lamigo Monkeys last night at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Rookie phenom Lin Yu-ching was rock-solid for the Elephants as he kept the potent Monkeys lineup at bay with a four-hit gem over eight innings to allow his slow-warming offense a chance for a three-run sixth that broke a 1-all tie.
Taking the loss was Monkeys starter Matt DeSalvo of the US, who matched Lin stride-for-stride through the fifth before a fatal error by his defense led to a pair of unearned runs in the game-deciding sixth inning.
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
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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
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