Close play dominated league action on Saturday night with the President Lions edging past the struggling La New Bears 7-6 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang and the Brother Elephants blanking the Chinatrust Whales 2-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu.
It was the second straight game that the Bears had lost by the same 6-7 margin following Thursday night’s defeat at the hands of the Whales with two late-game rallies that fell short by a run each.
Saturday night’s contest saw the Lions jumped all over newly joined Bears starter Chang Chih-jia with four early runs in the top of the second highlighted by Yang Seng’s two-run double with the bases loaded.
The 4-0 lead would last less than an inning as the home Bears countered with four runs of their own on the strength of an RBI-single by Yu Jin-deh and a three-run homer by Huang “Easy” Long-yi off Lions starter Louis Pote.
After Pote wasted away the four-run lead that his offense had generously spotted him, he would get another chance in the third with a three-run advantage, courtesy of a three-run blast to deep-left by Kao Chih-kang that chased Chang.
Only this time, Pote was more prudent with the lead as he allowed a run to the Bears in the bottom of the third to make it 7-5.
He then pushed his luck to the limit three innings later in the sixth by hanging on to a 7-6 lead before his bullpen bailed him out with four innings of scoreless relief to preserve his league-leading sixth win of the year.
Suffering the loss on behalf of the Bears was Chang whose Taiwanese professional debut following a short but effective stint with the Seibu Lions in Japan was a flop as he allowed all seven of the Lions’ runs in only 2-2/3 innings.
Whales 0 Elephants 2
The Brother Elephants ended the week of play on a high note with a 2-0 shutout against the Chinatrust Whales in Tienmu to sweep the two-game set against the marine creature and extend their non-losing streak to four in a row.
Liao Yu-cheng struck out ten over eight shutout innings of play for the victorious Elephants to improve his team-best record to 5-0 while fellow catcher Kuo Yi-fong took care of business on the offensive end by going 2-for-3 with an RBI to help his team win two games with just four combined runs in the week.
The pitchers’ duel between Liao and his counterpart Shen Yu-jeh of the Whales was a scoreless gridlock after five quick frames before the Elephants finally broke through with a run in the sixth on a clutch two-out single by Chen “Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan to lead it 1-0.
They would tack on an unearned run in the seventh for insurance with Kuo coming up big on another two-out single to score the runner from second. That was all the runs that either team could muster as Liao was in full control through the eighth on 134 pitches before handing the game over to Mai.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
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