Erupting for 20 runs to tie a club record, the President Lions thrashed the Chinatrust Whales by a 20-5 final in Tainan on Sunday for a clean two-game sweep of the marine creatures.
The home-team Lions teed off against the Whales dismal pitching by plating five runs in each of the first two innings off three different Whales hurlers for a commanding 10-0 lead.
They tacked on six more in the fourth inning to make the result a foregone conclusion long before the final out was called.
Every starter for Lions had at least one hit and a run in the 21-hit slugfest, highlighted by Shih Jin-dien and Yang Song-hsuen's four-hit efforts in the game.
Catcher Kao Chih-kang also hit a home run for the first time this season and had three hits in five appearances at the plate for the night to reach a career-high five RBIs to lead the overpowering Lions attack.
Spotted a 16-run lead, Lions starter Tsao Jung-yang cruised through the first five innings without surrendering a run before finally allowing two in the sixth and another in the seventh on a total of nine hits for the easy victory.
Picking up the lopsided loss for the Whales was starter Kao Jien-san, who allowed all five of the hitters he faced to reach before he was relieved by fellow bullpen mate Du Chang-wei.
Offensively for the Whales, Chen Jia-hong and Kuo Dai-yong's homers were the lone highlights on a night that the Lions simply were too much for the Whales staff to handle in every single aspect of the game.
Elephants 17, Cobras 9
The Lions were not the only team with the hot bats on Sunday as the Brother Elephants also pounded out 17 runs on 16 hits off seven different Macoto Cobras pitchers to claim a 17-9 win over the serpents in Tianmu for their own two-game sweep.
The landslide victory marked the Elephants' 800th in club history.
They are only the second team in the league to reach that milestone. The Lions are the other team to post 800 wins.
Every one of the Elephants starters also collected at least one run and a hit in the nearly four-hour long contest.
The Elephants jumped to a 13-0 lead over the first two innings before adding three more runs in the third to put the game away before the Cobras even realized what had hit them.
Wang Jing-li was credited with his first win of the season for four-and-two-thirds innings of three-run relief, beating the Cobras' Tsai Shih-chin, who was pulled after allowing all six of the Elephants hitters to reach base.
The Brother hitters pounded out four hits and two walks against Tsai to hand the pitcher his first setback of the year.
Lin "Wild Hog" Hong-yuan had two home runs in the game, including a monster grand slam off Elephants starter Yeh Ding-ren in the top of the fourth.
That, however, was the lone highlight for the hapless Cobras as they dropped two in a row for the second time this season.
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
“Please love us. Please cheer us on. We have been working hard. Do not give up on us.” Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien’s heartfelt plea echoed across the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament after a historic victory. Rather than boasting, Chen was making an earnest appeal after leading Taiwan to a 4-0 victory over Japan to claim their first major international baseball title at the senior level. Chen’s decisive three-run homer in the fifth inning and his Premier12 leading .632 batting average secured him the Premier12’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He was also named one of the tournament’s outstanding defensive players
WELL-AGED: Although the youngest team in the tournament, Taiwan featured several veteran stars, including Sunday’s home-run hero Chen Chieh-hsien “I will never forget today,” veteran Taiwanese pitcher Chen Kuan-yu said after Taiwan on Sunday night blanked Japan to secure their first ever gold in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 championship. Chen, who at 34 is the oldest member on the team, said Taiwan “made every difficult step to come to today’s victory. I will never forget today.” Taiwan made history when they won their first gold medal of the Premier12 tournament, beating Japan in a 4-0 shutout victory in the final at the Tokyo Dome. It was a jaw-dropping victory for many baseball commentators who went into the game with
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
RSS