Kuo Yi-feng’s clutch double with two-outs scored the go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth as the Brother Elephants held on to beat the Sinon Bulls 5-4 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Trailing 2-4 in the bottom of the sixth against a pretty stingy Bulls squad that had taken a two-game series from the dmedia T-Rex last weekend, the Elephants strung together consecutive singles off Sinon reliever Tsai Ming-jin after drawing a leadoff walk to score their third run of the game before Kuo turned the game around with his two-run double down the third-base line.
That was all it took as Yeh Yong-jeh and Ma Jia-rei combined for nearly three innings of scoreless relief to preserve the victory for game-winner Wu Bao-shien.
The Bulls did have two more scoring opportunities in the seventh and eighth with runners in scoring position and two outs in the seventh and one out in the eighth, but failed to come up with the timely hit necessary to tie the game.
BEARS 9, WHALES 6
The La New Bears needed a solo blast from Lin Chih-sheng to spark a three-run burst in the top of the 10th to top the Chinatrust Whales 9-6 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.
The hero of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar who drove in the game-winning run in the title game for Taiwan broke a 6-all tie in the top of the tenth with his ninth blast of the season before the Bears tacked on two more runs in the same inning to make it 9-6.
Closer Jermaine Van Buren made sure the lead stood this time by pitching a scoreless tenth for his second win of the year after he had allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a single and a double to force the game into extra-innings in a blown save situation.
Also starring for the Bears was slugger Pan Chung-wei who drove in a season-high four runs on three hits.
LIONS 10, T-REX 9
Tilson Brito’s RBI double saved the day for the President Lions as they went 12 innings against the dmedia T-Rex before earning a 10-9 win at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Tuesday.
In a game that featured five lead-changes, it was dmedia who had the upper hand in the early going with a seemingly comfortable 7-4 lead through the sixth.
The Lions roared back with two runs each in the seventh and eighth to lead 8-7 before T-Rex tied it up at 8-8 in the eighth on a key double by newcomer Jose Leon.
The two teams traded a run each in the 10th before Brito’s extra-inning heroics delivered the emotional victory.
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was