Chen Lien-hong homered for the second-straight game, Nelson Figueroa pitched eight effective innings of two-run ball and the President Lions topped the Sinon Bulls 6-4 in Tainan on Wednesday evening to win their seventh in a row.
The runners-up in last year's Taiwan Series are peaking at the right time and increased their lead over the second-placed La New Bears to three-and-a-half games heading into the final week of the regular season.
The visiting Bulls went 2-0 up early on with a first-inning run on a sacrifice fly by cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan and Chang Jien-ming's RBI single up the middle in the top of the third.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
That lead was erased by the bottom of the third, when the Lions strung three consecutive singles together off Sinon starter Kurita Yusuke to even things up at 2-2. They then pulled away with four unanswered runs over the next five frames, highlighted by Chen's solo blast in the fifth and Kao Guo-ching's two-run triple in the eighth to lead 6-2.
Trailing by four, the Bulls scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth by leading off the inning with a pair of base hits to place runners on second and third with no outs against Tsao Jung-yang and knocking in both on a wild pitch by the Lions closer and an RBI groundout from Lin Tsung-nan. But that was as close as they got, as Tsao settled in and retired the final two Bulls to secure the win.
Picking up his third win in as many starts was Figueroa, who is unbeaten at 3-0 since his Taiwan debut on Sept. 15th. He allowed two runs on nine hits while fanning five and walking two.
Suffering the loss on behalf of the Bulls was Kurita, who ran up the pitch count to 110 in just five-and-a-third innings of work with four runs on seven hits and was pulled from the game earlier than he would have liked.
Elephants 7, Whales 3
Winning their third-straight game for only the second time in this rebuilding year, the Brother Elephants bested the Chinatrust Whales 7-3 in Sinjhuang on Wednesday -- virtually eliminating the Whales from postseason play in the process.
As was the case with the game between the Bulls and the Lions, the losing team struck first as the Whales' Shih Jin-sho connected for a two-out single off Brother starter Liao Yu-cheng for a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
Those turned out to be the only runs that Liao would give up in seven solid innings as he two-hit the Whales before being relieved in the eighth en route to his fourth win of the year.
Offensively for the Elephants, the heart of the order picked up the scoring slack on the night by going a combined 10-for-14 at the plate, with Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan grinding out four hits and Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min and Chen Rei-chen chipping in three apiece to account for five of the seven runs scored.
Taking the loss for the Whales was starter Chu Wei-ming, who lasted only two innings on three runs and seven hits for his second setback of the year.
The Whales will need to run the table in their remaining six games and hope for the league-leading Lions to lose at least seven of their final nine to qualify for the playoffs, which start in about two weeks.
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
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
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