Shih Chih-wei's timely single with a runner on second scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth and Tsai Ying-fong pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the 6-5 win for the La New Bears over the Sinon Bulls in Taichung on Sunday evening.
The clutch single by the Bears infielder was his second hit on a 2-for-5 night, giving him a team-high 23 multi-hit games in the 59 regular season contests thus far.
The classic seesaw battle that saw the Bears overcome four deficits before Shih's eighth-inning heroics ultimately put them ahead for good.
Each team scored a first-inning run with the Bulls' Cheng Jau-han hitting a sacrifice fly to deep-right and the Bears' Chen Chin-fong singling in a runner from third.
After a scoreless second, the Bulls struck again with a run each in the third and the fourth, the former on Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's solo homer off Bears starter Hsu Chih-hua, the latter courtesy of Yang Jin-hsiung's RBI single to take a 3-1 lead.
Lin Jin-ping's two-run shot off the Bulls' Lee Guo-ching quickly evened things up at 3-all before they played to a 5-5 tie to set the stage for Shih's game-winning hit in the eighth.
"That was one heck of a game," a smiling Shih said after the game.
Picking up the win for the Bears was reliever Jiang Bo-ching who entered with two outs in the seventh after the Bulls had scored a run and got his team out of the jam by inducing a lazy fly out to end the inning. He retired all four of the batters he faced.
Suffering the loss was Bulls closer Kuo Yong-chih who left a pitch up for Shih and knew right away that Shih had jumped all over it for a game-winning hit.
Lions 9, Elephants 2
The President Lions made it five in a row with a 9-2 win over the Brother Elephants in Tianmu on Sunday to complete the two-game weekend sweep.
The win moved the Lions one full game in front of the Macoto Cobras for the sole possession of the lead in the league standings.
Tilson Brito hit his league-leading 24th homer of the season, a three-run shot off the Elephants' Yeh Yong-jeh to give the Lions a comfortable 4-0 advantage in the third before they erupted for five more in the fourth to lead it 9-0.
That was more than ample for President starter Pete Munro who took a shutout one out into the sixth before a defensive error by the Lions led to an unearned run that broke up the shutout bid for the American southpaw. He would end the night with seven strong innings of one-run ball on five hits for his eighth win of the year.
Offensively for the Lions, Pan Wu-hsung, Kao Guo-ching, and Chen Lien-hong also had multi-hit games as the threesome drove in five runs to account for the bulk of the team's run production.
Lack of timely hits ultimately cost the Elephants the game as their nine scattered singles netted them just two runs (one earned) in the game compared to the Lions' ten hits which resulted in the nine runs that they managed to ring up off three different Brother pitchers.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who