Tsai Chung-nan pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit ball to lead the Sinon Bulls past the Macoto Cobras in an 8-3 win at Taichung on Tuesday night, handing the previously undefeated serpents (with a 10-0-1 record prior to Tuesday) their first loss of the second half of the season.
In his best outing of the year by far, the former first-round draft pick for the defending champs kept the potent Cobras offense at bay with a combination of fastballs and nasty splitters, retiring the first six hitters he faced in a row.
With Tsai holding his ground through the first five innings, the Bulls offense was able to overcome a slow start by collecting three runs off Cobras starter Yang Chi-jia in the fifth on three straight hits and a costly throwing error by third baseman Wilton Veras for a 3-0 lead.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SINON BULLS
Veteran slugger Huang "Brother Tung" Chung-yi's two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth made it 5-0 in favor of the Bulls before the Cobras finally answered with a two-run seventh against Bulls reliever Clinton Hosford to break up the shutout bid.
Determined to make good on the win, the Bulls countered the serpents' two-run seventh with three runs of their own in the eighth to put the game out of reach, avenging the tough loss between the two clubs in the one-game playoff that crowned the Cobras as the first-half champs on July 21.
Tsai, the unanimous choice for the game-MVP honor, remained unbeaten (2-0) against the Cobras in four career starts (six games in total) as he picked up the win, while Yang lost for the first time this year in a rare starting role.
Cobras 3, Bears 3
It took eleven innings on Wednesday night at Hsinchu before the two teams reached the 3-1/2-hour time limit for a regular-season contest, which ended in a 3-all draw.
The Bulls actually drew first blood by plating the first run of the game in the top of the third on third baseman Chen Tsung-fu's RBI liner off Macoto starter Chen Chih-cheng, before the Cobras scored three times in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Deng Shih-yang and centerfielder Ko Jien-fong's two-run clutch single to shallow-center off Sinon righty Kuo Yong-chih to take a 3-1 lead.
Chen would surrender another run in the fifth on a groundout by Bulls second baseman Chang Jia-hao before leaving after the fifth with a 3-2 lead.
Cobras setup man Lee Ming-jing pitched two solid innings of one-hit relief before yielding a game-tying run to Sinon cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan in the eighth on a well-hit ball to the opposite field at which Chang slapped.
Neither team was able to cross the plate again in the extra innings, ending the match between the top two teams in the league in a deadlock.
Upcoming Games
The Bulls and Cobras will finish out their four-game series with two contests scheduled for Luodong tonight and tomorrow afternoon in two great matchups between Sinon ace Lenin Picota and Cobras righty Hsu Chu-jien and between the Bulls' Osvaldo Martinez and the Cobras lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh.
The Brother Elephants will pay a visit to the La New Bears in three southern cities this week with last night's series opener at Pingtung and tonight's game at Kaohsiung, before heading for Chiayi to conclude the three-game series on Sunday.
Last but not least, the President Lions will host the Chinatrust Whales in a three-game homestand at Tainan that could reshuffle the standings come next Monday if the Whales can get at least two quality starts out of starters Wascar Serrano and Shen Yu-jeh to climb out of the cellar in the latest standings.
The series is set to kick off with last night's scheduled Game 1 before the two squads will meet again with tomorrow and Sunday's matches.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS