AMERICAN LEAGUE
Taiwan’s Chen Wei-yin had a quality start in the Baltimore Orioles’ 4-3 victory at home over the Chicago White Sox on Monday, but ended with a no-decision because his team did not rally for the win until late in the game.
Chen shut out the White Sox for five innings, nursing a 1-0 lead provided by a Lew Ford homer in the bottom of the second, but he got into trouble in the sixth.
Dewayne Wise reached base on a ground ball to lead off the inning after Chen dropped a throw to first for an error, and Kevin Youkilis pounded the left-hander’s next pitch into the left field seats to put Chicago up 2-1.
The Kaohsiung native was pulled after pitching out the inning, ending his chances for his 13th win this season. In his six innings, the 12-7 Chen allowed only four hits and one earned run, and he struck out eight.
The Orioles pulled the game even in the bottom of the sixth with a single and three walks, but the White Sox again pulled ahead in the top of the eighth, when they scored a run on three straight hits off Orioles’ set-up man Pedro Strop.
Nate McLouth responded with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, securing the win for the Orioles, who now have a 70-57 record and are tied for the top wild-card spot in the American League with the Oakland Athletics.
Meanwhile, while Chen has emerged as the ace on a surprisingly strong team in his rookie major league season, countryman Wang Chien-ming continues to struggle in the minor leagues as he battles to regain a roster spot in the majors.
Wang gave up six runs on nine hits over five innings for the Washington Nationals’ double-A team, the Harrisburg Senators, in an 8-6 loss to the Richmond Flying Squirrels in Richmond on Monday. Wang has struggled recently with hip troubles.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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