Nicholas Ungs tossed six effective innings of shutout ball in his Taiwan debut and Chen Chih-hong knocked in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of fourth to pace the Brother Elephants to a 2-0 blanking of the Macoto Cobras in Sinjhuang on Monday night.
The American right-hander out of the University of Northern Iowa spent the past six seasons in the Florida Marlins minor league system and was signed by the Elephants last week. He scattered a base hit in every inning he pitched, but was able to get out of trouble each time before teammates Wang Jing-li and Todd Moser combined for three innings of scoreless relief to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively, the Elephants took advantage of a pair of walks issued by Cobras starter Andy Van Hekken and a run-scoring error by the Cobras defense in the fourth and scored what turned out to be the winning runs.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Cobras the game as they stranded nine on a night where they actually outhit the Elephants by a 9-7 margin.
It has been a rollercoaster ride for the Cobras and skipper Wu Fu-lien this season, who have gone from a first-half title to dead last in the standings in the second half with a dismal 15-28 record.
Pocketing the loss was Van Hekken, who fell to 1-3 for the year despite turning in his first complete game with two allowed runs (one earned) on five hits.
Bears 6, Bulls 2
The La New Bears kept their playoff hopes alive with a 6-2 win over the Sinon Bulls in Kaohsiung on Monday afternoon thanks to a pair of homeruns by leadoff man Huang "Easy" Long-yi and a sudden downpour in the bottom of the fifth that reduced the game to the minimum five innings.
The veteran outfielder single-handedly put the Bears ahead 3-0 over the first two innings with a leadoff blast off Bulls starter Lee Guo-ching in the bottom of the first before making it two in a row with a second-inning shot that scored the Bears' second and third runs of the game.
The Bears tacked on another run in the third, when Chen Chin-fong also went deep against Lee with his 26th round-tripper of the year to make it 4-0 before rounding out the scoring with a two-run fourth.
Trailing 0-6 after the fourth, the Bulls finally showed some signs of life in the fifth on Yu Hsien-ming's one-run single off Hsu Wen-hsiung with the bases loaded before a throwing error by the Bears defense led to their second run in a 6-2 game.
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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
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