Chang Ming-yen’s pinch-hit three-run homer off Tsai Ming-chin broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, as the Brother Elephants blanked the EDA Rhinos 5-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The win not only evened the weekend series at one win apiece after the Elephants dropped the opener by a 16-4 margin on Friday night, but also gave them sole possession of the lead in the standings. They enjoy a one-game cushion over the second-place Rhinos in a tight race for the second-half title.
The showdown between the top two clubs in the league lived up to its billing as neither team managed to score against the effective pitching of both starters — Chen Hung-wen of the Elephants and Yang Chien-fu of the Rhinos. The former fanned seven over five scoreless innings, while the latter scattered four hits over the same span in a classic pitchers’ duel.
However, things turned sour for the Rhinos after Yang was relieved by Chen Huan-yang in the bottom of the sixth as the men in yellow placed two on with a single by Chou Si-chi and a drawn walk by Wang Sheng-wei to set the scene for Chang’s game-turning swing.
Leading 3-0, the Elephants increased their advantage by two in the seventh with back-to-back run-scoring singles by Huang Shih-hao and Wang off reliever Lin Chi-wei to put the game out of reach.
Picking up the victory was Guan Da-yuan, who followed Chen Hung-wen’s suit with two strong innings of one-hit relief to improve to 6-3 for the year.
The loss was charged against Chen Huan-yang, who was responsible for two of the three runs that the Elephants scored in the decisive sixth.
MONKEYS 7, LIONS 6
The Lamigo Monkeys made it two wins in a row by edging past the Uni-President Lions in a 7-6 decision at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night, thanks to a tie-breaking single by Yu Teh-lung that scored the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.
It was only fitting that Yu also saved the day for the Monkeys with a diving catch in shallow-left with the tying run on second for the game-ending out.
The Primates put up five quick runs over the first three innings to build an early 5-0 cushion, but allowed the Lions to come right back and actually fell behind 6-5 in the sixth, before scoring two unanswered runs to escape with the narrow victory.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six