A stellar effort by the Brother Elephants bullpen helped protect a slim lead as they held off a late-game rally to defeat the Sinon Bulls 4-3 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Sunday evening.
With a 4-3 lead and the Bulls hitters rallying for more, Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li was able to induce an inning-ending pop-out with runners at the corners in the sixth. He then retired the side in order in the seventh before Matt Perisho and Mai Jia-rei combined for a scoreless eighth and ninth to preserve the win for starter Liao “the Golden Submarine” Yu-cheng.
The Elephants’ Chen “the Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan and Wang Jin-yong both had RBIs to cap a three-run fourth for a 4-1 lead.
The Bulls attempted a comeback, but failure to come up with timely hits ultimately cost them as they batted a disappointing 2-for-11 with runners in scoring positions.
Hsieh Jia-shien’s leadoff double off Perisho in the top of the eighth was wasted as the next three Sinon hitters came up empty against the American lefty, while Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan’s game-ending groundout to short with runners on first and second added another pair of stranded runners — for a total of nine for the Bulls.
Rugby organizers in Taiwan hope that a tournament in Singapore next week would be the catalyst to boost the sport in the nation. However, with a team of mostly university students up against more experienced players from their two opponents, Taiwan face a stern challenge at the first edition of the Unions Cup. Taiwan coach Huang Chi-hsang at a training session at the University of Taipei yesterday said that the other two teams — Singapore and Thailand — can draw on a wider pool of players, including those with overseas experience. Taiwan captain Chien Tzu-fan is one of the older hands on the
KING OF QUEEN’S: In London, Tommy Paul became the first US player to win the Queen’s Club Wimbledon warm-up since Sam Querrey in 2010 Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium on Sunday claimed the Rothesay Classic doubles title in Birmingham, England, while Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva won her first senior grass-court women’s singles title. Top seeds and reigning Australian Open champions Hsieh and Mertens defeated Zhang Shuai of China and Miyu Kato of Japan 6-1, 6-3 at the Edgbaston Priory Club in 59 minutes. “I’ve already played two doubles finals here and I lost all of them, so I’m very happy to win this one,” Mertens told the Lawn Tennis Association Web site. “Birmingham is of course very important in the lead up to Wimbledon,
Four of the P.League+’s six teams and all five of the T1 League’s clubs have signed a letter of intent to join a proposed new basketball league, New Taipei Kings chairman Walter Wang said on Saturday. The planned league of at least 10 teams would include the Kings, which Wang founded, and one from Southeast Asia, he told a news conference in New Taipei City. It is time to take professional basketball in Taiwan to the next level by forming a new league, he said, adding that he has been in discussions with many team owners and was working to convince the
Taiwanese world No. 3 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Saturday dominated Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia to advance to the final at the Rothesay Classic Birmingham. Top seeds Hsieh and Mertens — who are eyeing their third doubles title this year after victories at BNP Paribas Open and the Australia Open — were to play Japan’s Miyu Kato and China’s Zhang Shuai in the final on Ann Jones Centre Court last night after press time. Hsieh and Mertens beat Muhammad and Sutjiadi 6-1, 6-2 in a swift 57 minutes at Edgbaston