The second-placed Uni-President Lions made up some ground in the standings with a 5-4 win over the top-ranked Chinatrust Brothers on Tuesday.
The victory not only kept the deficit between the two squads to 2.5 games as the race for the second-half title heats up, but also breathed new life into a Lions team who had lost four of their previous five, establishing some much-needed confidence among the players.
“It was a big win for us given our sub-par performance in the past two weeks, and now we must build on it,” Chang “OEO” Tai-shan said after the win.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The veteran slugger and expected future Hall-of-Famer has made the most of his return to the Lions starting lineup as a designated hitter after spending much of the summer in the minor leagues to tweak his swing, going 18-for-45 (.400) last month.
Chang will need to remain hot at the plate to spearhead a Lions offense who must rise to the occasion in the remaining 30 games of the regular season for them to secure a spot in the post-season because they still trail the Lamigo Monkeys in the cumulative record (42-2-45) by three games for the wild-card spot if the Primates fail to finish the second half on top.
“Finishing last in the first half really hurt us as far as our post-season chances are concerned, that is why we must win the second half out-right to secure a spot in the playoffs,” Lions skipper Chen Lien-hung was quoted as saying in Chinese-language reports before the game.
His troops have come a long way to improve from their 26-1-33 mark in the first half, posting 16-1-12 in the second half after the Tuesday result.
Other than Chang, the Cats will also need a strong finish from their pitching staff, who have a generous combined earned run average (ERA) of 5.43, second-worst in the league.
Starting trio Pan “Du Du” Wei-lun, Wang Ching-ming and newcomer Zack Segovia will have to bring their game up a notch to give the already-thin Lions bullpen some rest, not to mention taking some of the burden off the Lions offense.
How well Du Du fares will be critical to the Lions’ success, since he is unquestionably the offensive leader with 123 career victories under his belt. Even though his season mark of 6-6 is the worst in his 13 years in the league, his past three starts have been brilliant, with only one earned run in each over 21 combined innings of work to achieve a 1.29 ERA.
Starting today, the Brothers take on the EDA Rhinos in a three-game series, while the Lions and Monkeys face off in their own series.
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying was knocked out of the Malaysia Open yesterday, losing her women’s singles semi-final against Chen Yufei of China 19-21, 21-13, 21-15. Despite two previous victories for second-seeded Tai against Chen this season — including her win in the final of the Thailand Open — fourth-seeded Chen dispatched the world No. 2 in 1 hour, 8 minutes at Kuala Lumpur’s Axiata Arena, securing a spot in the Super 750 tournament’s final. Tai won the opening game of the last-four matchup, scoring two consecutive points after the score was tied 19-19. However, she had a horrific points drought after the
Taipei Municipal Fulin Elementary School’s baseball team yesterday beat South Korea in the regional final to win the right to represent the Asia-Pacific region in this year’s Little League Baseball World Series. The Taiwan team’s 1-0 victory over hosts South Korea was largely down to the excellent performance of starting pitcher Liao Kuan-shu, who pitched six scoreless innings, in which he only gave up two hits at Hwaseong Dream Park in South Korea. After Taiwan earned a single in the bottom of the second inning, Liao in the third hit a two-out double, helping to eke out a 1-0 victory, as they
Tai Tzu-ying yesterday was Taiwan’s final hope at the Petronas Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, advancing to quarter-finals of the women’s singles with a decisive win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. The world No. 2 and second-seeded Tai crushed world No. 51 Kuuba 21-11, 21-9 in their second-round match, which lasted about 30 minutes, at the Super 750 tournament at the Axiata Arena. In the opener, Tai shot ahead 11-8 at the mid-game interval, with Kuuba starved after the break, scoring one point as the Taiwanese hit five consecutive winners to bound to 16-9. Kuuba rallied to gain two more points, but Tai
Brandon Brown wanted a way to change the narrative behind the “Let’s go, Brandon” message after his first career NASCAR victory inadvertently fostered a chant that has been used to insult US President Joe Biden. Brown found that new message thanks to the family of an eight-year-old boy with autism. Brandon Brundidge of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, was on a spring-break trip to Houston in March when he saw signs with the “Let’s go, Brandon” phrase. He believed they were meant to encourage him, and consequently started trying activities he never attempted before, such as learning to swim and removing the training wheels
RSS