The EDA Rhinos fell short against their foes in the second contest at the Asia Series yesterday afternoon, dropping a 2-0 decision to the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League (ABL) at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to remain winless at 0-2.
Failure to come up with the timely hits haunted the first-half Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) champions once again, as they batted a futile 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, including three strikeouts and hitting into a double play to squander several scoring opportunities.
The Rhinos actually had the bases loaded with no outs against Canberra starter Mike Ekstrom of the US in the bottom of the fourth in a golden scoring opportunity, but the former major leaguer managed to strike out Su Jian-rong of the Rhinos before getting Lin Wei-en to ground into an inning-ending double play to deny the hosts what could have been a big inning.
“We just couldn’t get the big hits to drive in the runs, even though we had almost the same number of hits as [Cavalry],” EDA Rhinos manager Dallas Williams said after the game.
INJURIES
Injuries to his players also took its toll, as the Rhinos played without the services of several regular starters in the game.
The showdown between the defending champs of the ABL and the Rhinos saw the visitors drawing first blood with a run in the top of the second, when Mike Wells doubled off Rhinos starter Matt Torra and scored on Aaron Sloan’s ground-rule double to deep-left.
The score remained at 1-0 with neither offense able to plate another run against the solid pitching of Torra and Ekstrom through the eighth, before the visitors tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on a wild pitch by Torra with runners at the corners to seal the victory that marked the ABL’s first in the two trips it has made to the Asia Series.
GAME MVP
Picking up the win was Ekstrom, who was named the game MVP for his outstanding 6-1/3 innings of shutout ball on eight hits, while the loss was charged against Torra, who pitched deep into the ninth with two allowed runs on 10 hits before being relieved.
The loss also knocked the Rhinos out of the competition and they can now only enjoy the rest of the five-day event from the comfort of the spectators’ stand.
LIONS 10, UNIPOL FORTITUDO 0
(7TH INNING)
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) champions the Uni-President Lions teed off against Unipol Fortitudo of Italy by blanking the defending European Cup champions in a 10-0 shutout in seven innings to garner an impressive win in their first game of the Asia Series.
Lions starter Wang Ching-ming was virtually untouchable as the right-hander allowed just two hits over five spectacular frames to keep the Italian bats at bay, before Liao Wen-yang followed with a perfect sixth and seventh to keep the shutout intact.
LEADER
Offensively for the home Cats, Lin Chih-hsiang’s three-for-five hitting with a pair of RBIs led a high-octane lineup that racked up 11 hits to plate 10 runs on the night.
Wang was credited with the win.
His counterpart and former Lions starter Giancarlo Alvarado suffered the loss, with four allowed runs on as many hits over 1-1/3 innings of play.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
RSS