The Uni-President Lions made it two wins in a row against the EDA Rhinos with a 6-2 triumph over their archrivals from Greater Kaohsiung at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave the Cats an overwhelming 15-5 edge in the 20 head-to-head contests against the first-half champs for the second half, but also cut their magic number to clinch the second-half title to one, with two games remaining on their schedule. Another win by the Cats or a loss by the second-place Lamigo Monkeys will send the former straight into the Taiwan Series that is to take place later in the month.
Starter Wang Ching-ming bounced back from an ugly loss in his last start by holding the Rhinos to two runs on eight hits over six decent innings to give his offense plenty of chances to score some runs.
That was exactly what they did as the Lions bats finally came alive, after being held scoreless for four innings, with a two-run fifth that erased an early deficit before erupting for four more runs to seal the victory that made a winner out of Wang.
Leading the attack for the Lions was Tang Jau-ting, whose clutch triple with two on scored both runners to cap a three-run seventh that blew the game wide open.
Also starring for the red-hot Lions were Kao Guo-ching, who belted three hits on the night and drove in a run to send the Rhinos packing long before the final out in the bottom of the ninth.
Taking the loss was starter Lin Chen-hua, who failed to keep the Lions hitters at bay after shutting them down in the first four innings of play. He will end the regular season with a league-best 15-7 record despite the loss.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
Sean Dyche on Thursday achieved in his first game with Nottingham Forest what predecessor Ange Postecoglou could not in eight matches in charge: Win. Under its new coach, Nottingham Forest presented a concentrated display resulting in a 2-0 victory over Porto in the UEFA Europa League. It was the first victory for Nottingham in the competition and only the second overall this season, while Porto were defeated for the first time this season. Morgan Gibbs-White converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute at the City Ground in West Bridgford, England. Igor Jesus doubled the advantage from another penalty in the 77th
The tiny village club of Mjallby AIF on Monday won the top tier Swedish soccer league with a 2-0 away win at IFK Gothenburg, sealing the title with three rounds of matches remaining. Jacob Bergstrom and Tom Pettersson scored the goals in Mjallby’s 20th win in 27 league games. Mjallby has a population of fewer than 1,400 people and plays in an outdated 6,000-seat stadium with stands weathered by the winds of the Baltic Sea. “It’s a huge relief to experience this now, a relief with three games to go,” said Anders Torstensson, a former army officer and secondary-school teacher who coaches the
RSS