Shih Chih-wei’s grand slam capped an eight-run sixth that blew a 3-2 game wide open as the La New Bears went on to defeat the Brother Elephants 11-3 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Tuesday night to start the week with a bang.
The win not only nipped a two-game slide for the home Bears, but also ended the Elephants’ two-game winning run following an awesome weekend of play in Tianmu with a pair of triumphs over the top-ranked Sinon Bulls.
Lin Chih-sheng also homered on Tuesday, bringing the La New slugger’s total for this month to nine to tie the league mark for most homers in a single month shared by former Uni-President Lions great Tilson Brito in 2007 and Denio Gonzalez of the 1996 Chinatimes Eagles.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Keeping the red-hot Elephants offense in check with his second straight quality start was Bears righty Chang Chih-jia, who overcame a shaky one-run first by pitching one-run ball over the next five innings to earn his third win of the season.
The game favored the Elephants in the early going as starter Danny Core managed to allowed only two Bears runners on in the first three frames to take an early 1-0 lead.
That was when the Bears decided to up their game a notch, with Lin and Chen Chin-fong going deep against Core with back-to-back homers in what ended up being a three-run fourth.
Even though the Elephants answered with a run of their own in the fifth to make it 3-2, that was as close as they got as the Bears erupted for eight runs in the sixth to put the game away long before the final out.
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save