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.
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
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