Angel Echevarria hit three homers yesterday to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 9-2 win over the Orix BlueWave.
Echevarria hit solo homers in the second and fifth innings at Sapporo Dome and then added a two-run blast in the sixth, when the Fighters scored five runs to put the game out of reach.
PHOTO: AP
Kiyoshi Sasaki picked up the win after coming on in the sixth in relief of starter Tsutomu Iwamoto, who gave up two runs over 5-1/3 innings.
Fernando Seguignol added a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning for his 10th homer of the season.
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Hiroyuki Nakajima hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning off reliever Masahide Kobayashi to lift the Seibu Lions to a 9-5 win over the Lotte Marines.
South Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop hit a three-run homer in the first inning as the Marines jumped out to an early lead.
At Osaka Dome, Fumitoshi Takano hit a two-run homer and Kenshi Kawaguchi drove in the winning run as the Kintetsu Buffaloes scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 win over the Daiei Hawks.
Pedro Valdes hit a pair of homers for the Hawks but Daiei's relievers couldn't hold the lead after rookie Takahiro Mahara held Kintetsu to two runs over seven innings.
Central League
Shinjiro Hiyama and Mike Kinkade both hit solo homers to lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 2-1 win over the slumping Yakult Swallows.
Keiichi Yabu gave up one run on seven hits over seven innings as the Tigers handed the last place Swallows their fourth straight loss.
At Nagoya Dome, Hirokazu Ibata drove in the winning run with a single up the middle in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Chunichi Dragons to a 2-1 win over the Yokohama BayStars.
Chunichi starter Masafumi Hirai picked up the win after giving up one run on four hits over eight innings.
Eiji Ochiai retired the side in the ninth for the save as the Dragons snapped Yokohama's five-game winning streak.
Yokohama reliever Denny Tomori took the loss after giving up a run in the eighth.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
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Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
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