Late-game rallies gave rise to a pair of come-from-behind wins in Wednesday's action around the league, with the La New Bears edging past the President Lions in a 6-5 thriller at Tainan and the Brother Elephants topping the Sinon Bulls 3-2 in Sinjhuang to sweep the two-game series.
Chen Fong-min's RBI single with a man on third capped a four-run ninth as the defending champions overcame a three-run deficit against the red-hot Lions, who had won six of their previous eight, to run away with the 6-5 triumph.
After two scoreless innings, the home Bears struck first in the bottom of the third with Tsai Jien-wei's rare two-run triple off Lions starter Pete Munro for a 2-0 advantage.
The lead would last less than two innings as the visiting Lions responded with a run in the fourth on Kao Chih-kang's run-scoring double before home-run threat Tilson Brito hit his league-leading 20th blast of the year with a runner on to claim a 3-2 lead at that point.
A run-scoring error by the Bears defense in the seventh, followed by Kuo Dai-chi's one-run single in the ninth, upped the Lions lead to 5-2, setting the table for the remarkable Bears comeback.
Tsai Ying-fong was credited with his first win of the year from his newfound relieving role with one-and-a-third inning of work.
The second-year starter-turned-reliever came into the game in the eighth and allowed a run on a pair of hits.
Pocketing the loss for the Lions was Tsai's counterpart Shen Bo-chang, who blew his second save of the year by serving up four runs (all unearned) on three hits in two-thirds innings of play for his second defeat of the season.
Elephants 3, Bulls 2
The Brother Elephants completed a two-game sweep of the Sinon Bulls on Wednesday night by scoring three unanswered runs to beat the Bulls 3-2 in Sinjhuang.
Chen Guan-ren's all-off single with the bases loaded knocked in the game-winner for the Elephants, which further exposed the late-inning relief problem that had troubled the Bulls all season long, as the bullpen blew their eighth save of the season.
The Bulls got off to a decent start with two quick runs off Elephants starter Joey Dawley over the first three frames on RBI singles by Hsu Guo-long and Cheng Da-hong in the first and third respectively.
Antonio Alvarez's solo home run off Sinon starter Yang Jien-fu in the bottom of the fourth quickly halved the Bulls lead to 2-1, and that was all either team could manage until the game-turning ninth.
Trailing by a run, the ninth-inning rally for the Elephants began with Chen Rei-chang reaching first on a pinch-hit single off Sinon reliever Alfredo Gonzalez before he took second on an ensuing walk issued by Gonzalez.
Veteran slugger Lin Ming-shien then came through with a huge two-out single that scored the game-tying run to send the game into extra innings.
The Bulls actually had a golden opportunity to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th when Cheng took second on a clean double off Wang Jing-li with one out.
But failure to come up with the timely hit ultimately cost the Bulls the game as they stranded the runner on third, all but handing the game to the Elephants.
Picking up the dramatic win for the Elephants was Wang, who escaped Cheng's double in the top of the 10th unharmed and eventually won the game on Chen Guan-ren's thunderous swing.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to