Wang Jin-yong’s infield single with the bases loaded capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth as the Brother Elephants turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 win over the Chinatrust Whales at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Friday night.
Trailing 0-1 for most of the game, the men in the golden uniform finally came to life in the eighth by taking first on a hit batsman that chased Whales starter Kao Min-jing before tying the game on a sacrifice-fly by Chen Chih-yuan and loading up the bases with two outs to set up Wang’s game-turning hit.
A fielding error by the Elephants shortstop, coupled with a wild pitch by starter Kobayashi Ryokan gave the marine creatures an early 1-0 lead in the opening frame.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
That would be the only run that either club scored for the next seven innings in the classic pitchers’ duel between Kao and Kobayashi that saw Kao take a two-hit shutout into the eighth and Kobayashi allowing an unearned run in a five-hitter through the seventh before the Elephants struck for two in the eighth to win the game.
The Whales outhit the Elephants 6-3, but failed to produce any runs as they batted a futile 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position to lose the heartbreaker.
Picking up the surprising win was Elephants reliever Mai Jia-rei, who pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth on a hit and two strikeouts to even his season mark at 2-2, while his counterpart Huang Hong-ren was tagged with the loss for loading up the bags in the eighth on a hit batsman and two walks to set the stage for Wang’s game-winning hit.
T-Rex 12, Bulls 3
An eight-run sixth by the dmedia T-Rex broke a 3-3 tie wide open and the T-Rex went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls 12-3 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday, giving manager Lin Kuen-wei a big win in his managerial debut.
Following the coaching shuffle that had former manager Liu Jia-chi swapping roles with Lin, the former pitching coach, to finish out the season, the T-Rex were eager to show what they could do for the rookie skipper.
And the eight-run sixth could not have come at a better time for them as they tallied up a half-dozen singles and four walks against three different Sinon hurlers to humble the Bulls.
After the T-Rex took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI-single by Chen Keh-fan, the Bulls answered with three runs of their own in the top of the fifth to claim a 3-1 advantage.
Wang Chuan-jia’s rare triple that scored the T-Rex’s second run of the game quickly brought hope to the hosts before they tied the game up two batters later on a blooper single by Napoleon Calzado to set the table for the big inning in the sixth.
T-Rex starter Cory Bailey was credited with his second win of the season for pitching six solid innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits to beat game-loser Tsai Ming-jin of the Bulls, who entered in the sixth and managed to get only one out before serving up a pair of singles to plant the losing seed for his team.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
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
Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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