Chen Chih-wei’s sacrifice fly to right with a runner at the corner scored the tie-breaking run in the top of the ninth as the Sinon Bulls held on to edge past the Brother Elephants 4-3 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only helped the Bulls bounce back from a pair of losses on Saturday in a sweep of the day-night doubleheader, but also salvaged what would have been a tough defeat by the Elephants as they squandered a two-run lead during the game and fell behind before rallying back to claim the victory.
Chang Jien-ming’s two-run blast off Elephant starter Lin Yu-ching got the Bulls on the board for a quick 2-0 advantage in the top of the third.
The score stood until the fourth before the men in the golden uniforms answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth on Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s double to lead the inning, and scored three batters later on a clutch two-out single by Chen Jiang-ho that made it 2-1.
The Elephants struck again for a pair of runs in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead, highlighted by a perfectly executed hit-and-run play by Chang Chih-hao, with speedster Chang Chih-wei at first and an erroneous throw by the Sinon defense that allowed Chang Chih-wei to score all the way from first.
However, the diehard Bulls simply would not go down easily as they scored another run in the eighth courtesy of the second error on the Elephant defense to notch the game up at 3-all to set up their ninth-inning rally.
Things looked good for the Elephants after starter Lin dodged a couple of bullets in the sixth and seventh when he escaped a bases-loaded jam and a two on-with-one out situation unharmed respectively to lead it 3-2.
However, the lead proved short-lived as the Elephants self-destructed by giving up the tying run on an error in the eighth to lose the lead and eventually the game in the ninth.
Picking up the win was reliever Lin Keh-chien, who entered with two outs in the eighth to keep the Elephants at bay before retiring the final three Brother batters in the ninth for his first win of the year.
Taking the loss was his counterpart Guan Da-yuan, who gave up the winning run in the ninth to drop to a 5-2 mark for the season.
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