Seven quick runs over the first two innings set the tone early in the game as the La New Bears trounced the Sinon Bulls by a 10-4 margin in Kaohsiung on Friday evening to kick off the weekend series with a splash.
The win not only extended the Bears’ win streak to six straight, but also helped them to take the lead in the standings, with a loss by the Uni-President Lions to the Brother Elephants in Tainan meant the Bears and the Lions swapped places in the standings in a tight race for the first-half title.
Lin Chih-sheng’s two-run double off struggling Sinon starter Yang Jien-fu got the hit parade started in the top of the first to spot Bears starter Hsu Wen-hsiung a four-run lead.
They would tack on another three against Yang that made it 7-0 in the second before the Bulls got on the board against Hsu with a run in the third.
After the Bears scored their eighth run of the game in the third, the Bulls would get two runs back and that was as close as they got en route to the 10-4 defeat.
Picking up the win to even his record at 5-5 was Hsu, who was not at his best as he allowed four runs on nine hits over seven frames, but benefited from an offense that has averaged 8.5 runs per game during a six-game winning streak.
ELEPHANTS 2 LIONS 1
Mike Smith pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball, while Liu Geng-hsin showed off his blazing speed around the base paths and the Brother Elephants went on to top the Uni-President Lions 2-1 in Tainan on Friday to hand the Cats their third straight loss.
Despite allowing a solo homer to the Lions’ Tu Chuang-hsun that put the Lions ahead 1-0 in the third, Smith was in control the entire way, retiring the side in order in four of the first six innings.
That kept the slow-to-warm Elephants in the game long enough to finally get to Lions starter Chris Gissell in the fifth with a run on Wang Sheng-wei’s RBI-groundout after Gissell issued back-to-back walks to start off the inning.
Liu then made his mark in the sixth by racing home all the way from second on a wild pitch by Lions reliever Hsu Yu-wei with two outs to put his team ahead 2-1, a score that would stand to the end.
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Brentford striker Yoane Wissa says he wants to leave the English Premier League club and that it is “unduly standing in my way.” A day before the end of soccer’s summer transfer period, Wissa posted a lengthy statement on social media yesterday criticizing Brentford for rejecting an apparent offer from another Premier League club despite his willingness to switch between the teams. Wissa, a reported target for Newcastle, is yet to play for Brentford this season and had already removed any association with the club from his Instagram account. Yesterday, the 28-year-old DR Congo international took it a step further on the social
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