The Chinatrust Whales grabbed an early 3-0 lead and held on for dear life to defeat the Brother Elephants by a 3-2 margin in Sinjhuang on Saturday night for their third-straight win.
Kevin Tolar took the mound in the ninth with a 3-1 lead and allowed a run on Wang Jin-yong's two-out single, before getting Chen Huai-shan to pop up in front of the plate with the tying run on first to preserve the win.
The Whales closer recorded a third-straight save despite allowing at least two runners to reach base in each of the three save situations, making it too close for comfort for skipper Hsieh Chang-hehn.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"I wish we didn't have to go through the late-game drama before taking the win," Hsieh said after the game. "But a win is a win and we'll take it."
Carlos Villalobos' two-run double off Elephants starter Chuang Wei-chuan gave the home team a quick 2-0 lead in the opening inning before they tacked on another run in the bottom of the second on Chen Yong-tseh's RBI single to make it 3-0.
That was all the scoring that either team could manage through the first five innings against the solid pitching of Whales starter Lorenzo Barcelo and Elephants reliever Wu Bao-shien who took over for Chuang at the start the third.
Trailing by three, the Elephants finally managed to break through in the sixth on Liu Geng-shin's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to make it 3-1, before Wang's base hit in the ninth brought them to within a run.
The Elephants had several excellent scoring opportunities in a game in which they actually outhit the Whales by 9 to 8. But going a combined 1-for-5 with runners in scoring positions, including hitting into two devastating double plays, ultimately cost them the game.
Barcelo was credited with his seventh win of the year for throwing five-and-a-third innings of one-run ball thanks to a bullpen that finished strongly to help him beat Chuang, who lasted just two innings on three runs and four hits to drop to 1-4 for the year.
Bulls 5, Lions 0
Kurita Yusuke tossed five scoreless innings of four-hit ball and Yeh Jung-chang knocked in a pair of runs to lead the Sinon Bulls past the President Lions in a 5-0 shutout in Tianmu on Saturday evening.
The win not only ended a nine-game losing skid versus the Lions for the Bulls, but also gave them three wins in a row.
Cheng Jau-han's one-run single in the top of the fifth broke a scoreless tie in a classic pitchers' duel between Kurita and the Lions' Chang Chih-chiang and the Bulls never looked back as they added four more runs over the final two innings off a struggling Lions bullpen to secure the rare shutout against the Lions.
Failure to contain the Bulls offense by the Lions bullpen might have exposed the only weakness for the previously top-ranked Lions, who had relied heavily on a strong rotation consisting of Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen, Pete Munro and Brian Reith.
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS