Chang “OEO” Tai-shan’s two-run homer over the left-center wall blew an otherwise narrow 1-0 game wide open in the top of the eighth as the Uni-President Lions went on to blank the Lamigo Monkeys 6-0 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to even up the series at one win apiece.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
The win not only upped the defending champs’ record to an even 9-9 to tie the Primates for the second place in the standings, but also put a temporary stop to a recent slide for them as they won for just the second time in the past six contests in an effort to duplicate their first-half success that would earn them an automatic 1-0 lead in the annual Taiwan Series.
Pan “TAKE” Wu-hsiung’s two-out single with a runner on second broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth, a score that would hold through the seventh with neither pitching staff giving in an inch to the opposing hitters.
However, that changed in a hurry in the eighth with a thunderous swing by Chang, again with two outs and a man on, to put his team ahead 3-0.
They then piled on three more in the ninth to humble the Monkeys in the end.
Starter Liao Wen-yang came out of the Lions bullpen in just his third start of the season, but pitched as if he had been a member of the starting rotation all along by scattering three singles while walking a pair over 5-1/3 innings of play to pick up win No. 8 for the year. He is now 7-0 with an ERA of 2.87.
Taking the loss was Lamigo reliever Cheng Cheng-hao, who entered in the third in relief of starter Ken Ray and gave up a run on two hits over 2-1/3 innings of work to drop to a 4-5 record for the year.
Bulls 3 Elephants 1
The Sinon Bulls dealt the red-hot Brother Elephants a rare defeat in a 3-1 final at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night thanks to a dominant effort by starter Lai Hong-cheng.
SHOWDOWN
The showdown between a pair of former aces for the National Taiwan Sport University, Lai for the Bulls and rookie sensation Lin Yu-ching of the Elephants, was a pitchers’ duel through the fourth with neither offense able to produce any runs in a scoreless tie.
However, the Bulls made sure that the Elephants, winners of ten straight heading into last night’s contest, would not have their way in setting a new team record for win streaks by dialing up four consecutive base hits off Lin to plate three runs in the fifth.
Even though the Elephants finally broke through in the eighth against Lai with a run to deny the rookie lefty a shutout bid, they still fell short by a deuce as the Sinon bullpen held their ground to preserve the first career win for Lai.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS