Tempers flared in the contest between the Brother Elephants and the La New Bears in Kaohsiung on Friday.
Four Bears players were ejected from the game that ended in a 5-5 draw for charging the first-base and home plate umpire on two different occasions.
Lin Chih-sheng was the first to lose his cool during the bottom of the ninth after he and a teammate were both called out by the first-base umpire on two very close plays that ended with Lin being tossed out of the game.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Play resumed after the ejection of Lin and went into extra innings until Bears skipper Hong Yi-chung charged the home plate umpire after a questionable called third strike that ended the inning with a runner in scoring position.
Huang Jung-chung, Pan Chung-wei and Chen Fong-min followed suit and were ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The game started with the home Bears taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, a lead they held until the top of the sixth when Chen Rei-cheng’s sacrifice-fly to right made it 2-1.
La New tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the same inning on Tseng Hao-jui’s two-run single with two outs to make it 4-1 only to see the Elephants counter with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh by Huang Cheng-wei and Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min.
After the Bears added their fifth run of the game to open a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Elephants struck again with a run-scoring double by Chen “Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan before a wild pitch by Bears closer Suzuki Makoto scored the tying run from third to send the game into extra innings.
Whales 13, T-Rex 12
Homers lit up the Sinjhuang sky on Friday night in a high-scoring affair as T-Rex held off a tenacious ninth-inning rally to prevail in a 13-12 decision.
Hitters from both teams teed off against the opposing pitchers with five combined homers on the night; two by the Whales’ Carlos Villalobos and a grand slam by fellow slugger Lu Jung-hsiung. T-Rex’s Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien and Chen Yuan-jia also went deep.
The Whales wasted little time adjusting to T-Rex starter Lai Jung-nan as they scored two runs in the top of the first against the rookie lefty on Villalobos’ two-run shot.
The T-Rex hitters then went to work against Whales starter Shen Yu-jeh who lasted less than an inning with nine runs allowed on six hits and a pair of walks.
Leading 9-2, T-Rex added to their lead in the fourth when Napoleon Calzado doubled off Whales reliever Liu Yu-chan and advanced to third on a wild pitcher before scoring on Wang Chuan-jia’s sacrifice fly two batters later.
The seemingly commanding 10-2 lead was anything but as the Whales scored six runs in the top of the fifth to pull within a deuce of T-Rex in a 10-8 ball game.
They twice reduced the deficit to a run but dmedia hung on.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS