Winning five straight, the Chinatrust Whales, who were once in last place this season, have quietly passed the slumping Macoto Cobras to take sole position of fourth place.
Over the past five-game stretch, the Whales have allowed fewer than three runs per game, including an impressive 7-0 shutout victory on the road over the Sinon Bulls on Sept, 11, while the offense averaged over six runs per contest.
Shortstop Cheng Chang-ming's (
The fourth-year defensive specialist, known more for his spectacular fielding ability than wielding a big bat, is enjoying a season-high, eight-game hitting streak. Cheng attributes his recent success at the plate to the month-long hitting instruction that he received while participating in the Athens Summer Olympics.
Cheng's 3-for-5 night with an RBI in Sunday's series finale against the Cobras not only led the Whales fans to bring out the brooms, signifying a clean sweep in the series, but it also propelled the big ocean dwellers past the serpents in the standings.
Closer Dario Veras retired the side in order during the last two innings to preserve the victory for starter Kao Jien-san (
La New Bears rookie lefty Wu Si-yo (吳偲佑) turned in his best outing of the season by taking a 3-0 shutout two outs into the ninth before being tagged for a run in the 3-1 decision over the league-leading President Lions on Saturday.
In just his seventh start of the year, the 22-year-old youngster out-pitched Lions second-year man and last yea's Rookie of the Year winner Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen (
Wu surrendered a lone run on four scattered hits in 8-2/3 innings, before reliever Lee Fong-hua (
The win temporarily blocked out the pain from the Bears' 5-4 extra-inning loss that ended on Lions home-run threat Chen "the Terrorist" Cheng-shien's (
The past two weeks have been a rollercoaster ride for the Bulls.
The team that sent a league-high five players to Athens to represent Taiwan in the Summer Olympics, had won four of their first five since regular season play resumed in early September, before losing four of their next five.
Not even starter Kuo Yung-chih's (
Leftfielder Lin Ming-shien's (
The 1-0 loss to the Elephants made Sunday's 2-0 triumph especially sweet for the Bulls as starter Yang Jien-fu (
It was the first time that the second-year Bulls fireballer with a Major League caliber slider went the distance in his young, yet promising career.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
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