Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s two-out double with men on second and third scored the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth as the Brother Elephants rallied from a run down to top the Lamigo Monkeys 3-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to clinch the weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
It was the third hit that the Elephant slugger managed to collect off the Monkey’s pitching as he drove in all three of his team’s runs on the night to singlehandedly -defeat their archrivals for a big road victory.
“[Matt DeSalvo’s] pitch caught too much of the plate, which gave me a chance for a good swing at it,” Peng said after the game.
His outstanding effort also earned him the game’s MVP honor.
The highly anticipated showdown between the Elephants’ Tseng Song-wei and the Monkeys’ Cheng Cheng-hao did not live up to its hype as the hitters broke through early against both starters with three combined runs in the opening frame — a run by the Elephants and two from the Lamigo hitters.
However, both hurlers settled down in a hurry as Tseng kept the Primates off the board through the seventh before turning to his bullpen for help. Cheng cruised through the fifth without giving up another run, while clinging to a slim 2-1 lead.
In came Monkeys reliever DeSalvo, who retired six of the next eight batters he faced to carry the Monkeys well into the seventh before surrendering a single and back-to-back doubles that led to the Elephants’ two game-turning runs.
DeSalvo was tagged with a blown save and the loss as he fell to a 4-3 mark for the year, while the win went to a very deserving Tseng, who picked up his first win of the season with seven solid innings of two-run ball on six hits and a season-high five strikeouts.
Despite the loss, Lamigo hitter Chen Guan-ren reached a new milestone by getting his 700th career hit on the night with a pinch-hit single in the eighth against his former club.
BULLS 4, LIONS 1
The Sinon Bulls also rallied from a one-run deficit with four unanswered runs to humble the top-ranked Uni-President Lions 4-1 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
Chang Jien-ming’s two-run blast off Lion starter Yuya Kamada was the difference in the game as the Bulls nipped a 26-inning scoring drought with Chang’s long ball, which gave his team the lead for good.
The win not only avoided a series sweep by the Cats for them, but also brought the Bulls into the win column for the first time in the second half.
Starter Lin Cheng-hua fell behind right away with an unearned run allowed in the bottom of the first, but came back strong by pitching shutout ball two outs into the sixth before being pulled. He accomplished mission impossible by beating a previously undefeated Kamada who fell to a still unhumanly 11-1 in his first loss of the year.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set