Nicholas Ungs tossed six effective innings of shutout ball in his Taiwan debut and Chen Chih-hong knocked in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of fourth to pace the Brother Elephants to a 2-0 blanking of the Macoto Cobras in Sinjhuang on Monday night.
The American right-hander out of the University of Northern Iowa spent the past six seasons in the Florida Marlins minor league system and was signed by the Elephants last week. He scattered a base hit in every inning he pitched, but was able to get out of trouble each time before teammates Wang Jing-li and Todd Moser combined for three innings of scoreless relief to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively, the Elephants took advantage of a pair of walks issued by Cobras starter Andy Van Hekken and a run-scoring error by the Cobras defense in the fourth and scored what turned out to be the winning runs.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Cobras the game as they stranded nine on a night where they actually outhit the Elephants by a 9-7 margin.
It has been a rollercoaster ride for the Cobras and skipper Wu Fu-lien this season, who have gone from a first-half title to dead last in the standings in the second half with a dismal 15-28 record.
Pocketing the loss was Van Hekken, who fell to 1-3 for the year despite turning in his first complete game with two allowed runs (one earned) on five hits.
Bears 6, Bulls 2
The La New Bears kept their playoff hopes alive with a 6-2 win over the Sinon Bulls in Kaohsiung on Monday afternoon thanks to a pair of homeruns by leadoff man Huang "Easy" Long-yi and a sudden downpour in the bottom of the fifth that reduced the game to the minimum five innings.
The veteran outfielder single-handedly put the Bears ahead 3-0 over the first two innings with a leadoff blast off Bulls starter Lee Guo-ching in the bottom of the first before making it two in a row with a second-inning shot that scored the Bears' second and third runs of the game.
The Bears tacked on another run in the third, when Chen Chin-fong also went deep against Lee with his 26th round-tripper of the year to make it 4-0 before rounding out the scoring with a two-run fourth.
Trailing 0-6 after the fourth, the Bulls finally showed some signs of life in the fifth on Yu Hsien-ming's one-run single off Hsu Wen-hsiung with the bases loaded before a throwing error by the Bears defense led to their second run in a 6-2 game.
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