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.
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
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
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