Behind an outstanding effort from starter Tsao Chin-hui, the Brother Elephants blanked the Sinon Bulls in a 2-0 decision at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Saturday night to take Game 2 of the three-game weekend series against the Bulls.
The former Major Leaguer who began the season in a Brother uniform after spending five bumpy seasons with three different teams in the majors pitched 7-1/3 shutout innings of five-hit ball before leaving with a cramp in his calves to win his third game of the year.
Equaling the task with 1-2/3 innings of perfect relief was an Elephants bullpen that got a great outing from setup man Matt Perisho to finish the eighth before Lee Hao-ren retired the side in the ninth to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively for the victors, Chu Hong-seng claimed his second straight game-winning RBI with a clutch two-out single in the second that scored the runner from third to give the Elephants a 1-0 lead.
Taking the loss for the struggling Bulls, who have lost five in a row, was starter Alfredo Gonzalez who lasted just one batter into the second and was forced to leave with some discomfort in his throwing hand. He was charged with the loss nonetheless for allowing the Elephants’ the first run in the game.
LIONS 5, BEARS 3
The Uni-President Lions made history on Saturday night by topping the La New Bears in a 5-3 decision to become the first team in the league to collect 1,000 wins.
Slugger Wang Tzu-song got hold of an offering from Bears starter Wu Si-yo and tattooed it over the leftfield wall for his first homer of the season, a three-run shot that capped a four-run second of the home Cats.
That was more than ample for Lions starter Chu Wei-ming, who tossed 5-1/3 innings of two-run ball (only one earned) on four hits before his bullpen came to the rescue with 3-2/3 innings of one-run relief to preserve the fifth win of the year.
Trailing 2-4, the Bears rallied to fall within a run of the Lions in the top of the eighth with Chen Chin-fong’s league-leading 14th homer of the season, a solo shot off Lions reliever Tseng Yi-cheng, which made it 3-4. But that was as close as they got as the Lions answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the same inning to keep the margin at two all the way to the end.
Although Shohei Ohtani’s first trip to the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series is a global sports event, it is particularly big in Japan. Fans from Ohtani’s home nation bought more World Series tickets for the first two games than from anywhere outside North America, ticket broker StubHub said. Dodger Stadium was packed to the rafters on Friday night for the start of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ showdown with the New York Yankees. “Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers drew big international appeal, especially from his home country of Japan,” StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli said. “At the beginning of the season, buyers from
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead
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