Taiwanese pitcher Chang Chi-chie tossed a one-hitter over the distance Saturday to lead the Seibu Lions to a 3-0 victory over the Lotte Marines.
Chang, who improved to 4-2, struck out 10 and walked only two batters at Chiba Marine Stadium. Lotte's only hit came on a double by Takashi Kita in the third.
Alex Cabrera, formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, belted a solo home run in the second inning for his 18th homer of the season. Designated hitter Taketoshi Goto went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs.
Ham Fighters 13, BlueWave 4
At Tokyo Dome, veteran Yukio Tanaka went 4-for-5 and belted a two-run homer in the fifth to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 13-4 win over the Orix BlueWave.
Michihiro Ogasawara, former Cincinnati Red DT Cromer and Ken Yamada also homered for the Fighters.
Nippon Ham starter Hiroyuki Sekine picked up the win after holding the BlueWave to three runs on seven hits over five innings as the Fighters snapped a four-game losing skid.
Hawks 3, Buffaloes 2
At Fukuoka Dome, Kazumi Saito improved to 8-2 after giving up two runs on seven hits over eight innings as the Daiei Hawks edged the Kintetsu Buffaloes 3-2.
Jeremy Powell, formerly of the Montreal Expos, took the loss despite striking out nine over eight innings.
Dragons 11, BayStars 2
In the Central League, Takayuki Onishi belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Masahiko Morino followed with another two-run homer in the top of the ninth as the Chunichi Dragons cruised to an 11-2 win over the Yokohama BayStars.
Former St. Louis Cardinals infielder Ivan Cruz, Hirokazu Ibata and So Tsutsui also homered for the Dragons.
Carp 12, Swallows 3
In Fukushima, Shigeru Morikasa and Yoshiyuki Ishihara both hit two-run homers to lead the Hiroshima Carp to a 12-3 victory over the Yakult Swallows. Itsuki Asai hit a solo homer in the fourth and added a three-run blast in the ninth to complete the rout.
Hawks 9, Bufaloes 2
Pedro Valdes slammed a three-run homer Sunday as the Pacific League-leading Daiei Hawks scored seven runs in the second inning on their way to a 9-2 victory over the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
Valdes, formerly of the Texas Rangers, connected off of Kintetsu starter Hisashi Iwakuma with a blast into the right field stands at Fukuoka Dome. It was his 12th homer of the season.
Lions 7, Marines 4
In Chiba, Kazuhiro Wada connected for a solo homer in the top of the seventh inning as the Seibu Lions defeated the Lotte Marines 7-4. Lotte scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull to within a run but Wada gave the Lions an insurance run with his 12th homer of the season.
Koji Mitsui picked up the win after holding the Marines to three runs on seven hits over 5-2/3 innings.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched