Back-to-back homers by Chen "The Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan and Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min helped the Brother Elephants beat the top-ranked President Lions 7-3 in Hsinchu on Wednesday night to split the two-game series.
The Elephants pair, who played a key role in the team's legendary "threepeat" from 2001 to 2003, showed that the Elephants offense could still crush any pitching staff in the league -- despite having suffered three straight losing seasons due to a lack of strong pitching -- by going a combined 4-for-8 with three RBIs to win the game.
The solo blast by Peng in the bottom of the third was especially sweet, because it left him just one homer short of joining the elite club of six players who make up the 100 home run club.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"I try not to let that affect my game, but I'd be lying to you if I said I don't think about it at all," Peng said after the game.
He will have roughly 20 more at-bats in the Elephants' four remaining contests to get that 100th homer.
The Elephants wasted little time getting to Lions starter Brian Reith, earning a pair of first-inning runs on Chen Chih-yuan's RBI double and a run-scoring single by switch-hitter Chen Huai-shan.
The Lions returned the favor in the top of the second through a sacrifice fly by Kao Chih-kang and an infield single by Hsu Sheng-jeh.
But that was all the Lions hitters could produce offensively because Chuang Wei-chuan pitched four shutout innings of two-hit ball after relieving Yeh Yong-jeh.
While Chuang was busy keeping the Lions hitters in check, the Elephants offense had a field day facing Reith. Two homers in the third made it 4-2, and three more runs came via Cheng-wei's two-run shot and Wang Jin-yong's RBI single in the fourth for a commanding 7-2 lead.
Trailing by five, the Lions managed to score once more in the seventh inning against the Elephants' Todd Moser. But that was as close as they got, as the Elephants closer quickly settled in and tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth to secure the win for Chuang with his league-leading 13th save of the year.
Picking up the loss after a three week-long break from action was Reith, who looked rusty with seven runs allowed on as many hits over three-and-a-third innings, including three homers, in only his second setback of the year.
Cobras 7, Bears 3
Failing to take advantage of the Lions' loss, the La New Bears went down by the same 7-3 margin to the Macoto Cobras in Kaohsiung on Wednesday. They remain a game behind the Lions with five games left in the regular season.
RBI doubles by Wang Chuan-jia and Chou Si-chi on top of a two-run homer by Hsieh "The Ugly" Jia-shien capped a four-run fifth that turned a 1-2 deficit into a 5-2 lead for the Cobras as they went on to beat the defending champs in an impressive road win.
Cobras starter Chang Hsien-chih was credited with his 12th win of the year to snap a two-game losing streak with six solid innings of three-run ball on eight hits to match his total wins from last year.
Tagged with the loss in his first start of the year was Suzuki Macoto. The Bears pitcher failed to deliver the performance his skipper was looking for, surrendering five runs on eight hits.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS