The EDA Rhinos stifled the Chinatrust Brother Elephants with some late-game magic yesterday to win 3-2 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
Lin Tsong-nan’s walk-off single off reliever Guan Da-yuan with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth scored the game-winner in the second straight victory the Rhinos have clinched on their last at-bat, following Saturday’s 2-1 win against the Elephants that saw them take the weekend series 2-1.
Guan entered the bottom of the ninth with the game tied two-all and got two quick outs in what looked set to be another extra-inning affair between the two clubs.
However, Cheng Da-hung singled off the Elephants reliever to reach first, before taking second on a straight steal to set the stage for Lin’s game-winner.
“It was unbelievable to win back-to-back games like this, both results could have gone either way,” Lin said, after his season-high 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in a rare start last night proved he belongs in the big leagues.
The classic pitchers’ duel between the Elephants’ Lin Yu-ching and the Rhinos’ Huang Wu-hsiung saw neither offense able to do much, resulting in a scoreless tie after four innings of play.
However, Huang’s luck ran out in the top of the fifth when Huang Shih-hao led off the inning with a clean double and scored two outs later on a Wang Sheng-wei blooper single that made it 1-0 in favor of the Elephants.
The lead lasted less than an inning, though, as the Rhinos promptly returned the favor by scoring a run off Lin Yu-ching on the strength of three straight singles off the hard-throwing righty.
The two teams traded runs in a seventh that made it two-all and set up Lin Tsong-nan.
Picking up the win was Tsai Ming-chin, who bailed Huang out in the seventh with an inning-ending strikeout that stranded two before pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth to beat Guan, who had two outs in the ninth.
LIONS 6, MONKEYS 2
The Uni-President Lions yesterday avoided being swept by the Lamigo Monkeys on the road with a 6-2 win over at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Kuo Dai-chi’s RBI single off Monkeys starter Shoda Itsuki sparked a six-run fourth as the Lions batted around the order. That made the difference, as the Monkeys put up just two runs in the fifth to avoid the shutout, but never threatened to score again.
Lions starter Liao Wen-yang was credited with the win, allowing two runs on nine hits over seven innings, while the loss was tagged to Shoda, who fell to 0-2 in three starts.
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
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
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
Taiwan’s world No. 6 shuttler Chou Tien-chen yesterday defeated India’s H.S. Prannoy to advance to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Changzhou. It was former world No. 2 Chou’s eighth win in 14 matches against Prannoy, who had earlier this week lamented the age divide between him and up-and-comers, although he is only two years younger than 35-year-old Chou. The Taiwanese, who is seeded sixth at the tournament, rebounded from a close 21-18 loss in game 1 on Court 2 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. He bounced back to take the next games 21-15, 21-8 and set up a tough quarter-final
RSS