Behind seven strong innings of one-run ball by Nelson Figueroa and a two-run home run by Kuo Dai-chi in the bottom of the fourth, the Uni-President Lions took a 5-1 lead through the seventh and held off a tenacious rally by the Brother Elephants to escape with a 5-3 win at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave the resurging Cats a 2-1 margin in the weekend series in central Taiwan, but also marked their fifth victory in the past six chances to keep them in the title hunt in the second half.
After three scoreless frames, it was the Elephants who drew first blood against Figueroa in the top of the fourth, when Chou Si-chi led off the inning with an opposite-field double and scored on Huang Shih-hao’s sacrifice fly three batters later to give his team a 1-0 advantage.
The lead lasted less than an inning as the Lions came right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of Kuo’s two-run blast off Elephant starter Lin Yu-ching that made it 2-1.
The Lions would put up three more runs in the next three innings to take a seemingly comfortable 5-1 lead, before the Elephants mustered one final offensive in the top of the ninth with a pair of runs off Lion closer Lin Yueh-ping.
Lin calmly registered the final three outs to preserve the win for Figueroa, who improved to 4-3 for the season.
MONKEYS 5, RHINOS 1
The Lamigo Monkeys avoided being swept by the EDA Rhinos with a 5-1 win in their weekend finale at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung last night.
Starter Wang Yi-cheng pocketed his first career win in the league with seven solid innings of work to silence a potent Rhino lineup that had won the previous two games in the series and were looking to sweep the home stand over the weekend.
“It’s an amazing feeling to see so many fans come out to support us, this win is for all of you,” Wang said after learning of his selection to the game-MVP honor.
He had played four seasons with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s NPB prior to joining the Monkeys at the start of the season.
Offensively for the victorious Primates, the night belonged to cleanup man Lin Hung-yu, who drove in a pair of runs on a 2-for-5 night to anchor a heart of the order consisting of Chan Chih-yao and Kuo Sho-yen, who batted a collective 5-for-14 in the game to drive in four of their team’s five runs.
Taking the loss for the Rhinos was starter Andy Sisco, who fell victim to a lack of run support despite an effort worthy of a quality start with three allowed runs (two earned) on four hits in 6-2/3 innings of play.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up a brief visit to Brazil on Friday with a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but despite the defeat, the team outshone their divisional rivals in the fight for the hearts and minds of Brazilian fans. In Sao Paulo for just the second-ever NFL game in the city, Chiefs players — especially quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce — were treated as major celebrities throughout their stay, turning Corinthians Arena into a scene reminiscent of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. Before kickoff, crowds of fans gathered around the Chiefs’ tunnel, eager to catch a
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
New Zealand stayed firm at their Eden Park fortress to claim an attritional 24-17 win over South Africa in a heavyweight clash between the world’s top two rugby sides yesterday. Under pressure after conceding a first-ever defeat on Argentine soil against the Pumas two weeks ago, the All Blacks responded with a performance of grit and discipline to stretch their unbeaten run at their Auckland stronghold to 51 matches. Two well-taken tries by Emoni Narawa and Will Jordan set up a 14-3 lead at halftime before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time. Well-held for most of
RSS