Brother Elephants batter Huang Cheng-wei’s RBI single with a man on third forced extra innings that saw his club play through to the 12th for a 2-2 draw with the Sinon Bulls at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu on Saturday night.
Chang Jien-ming led off the game with a single off Brother starter Lee Hao-ren for the Bulls and scored two batters later when Lin Yi-chuan muscled a liner to right. Wilton Veras followed with a sacrifice fly to give their team an early 2-0 lead.
The Elephants got back a run in the bottom of the same frame courtesy of a single by Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min off Sinon lefty Lin Ying-jeh.
That was all either club could manage over the next seven innings as Lee and Lin buckled down and held their ground through the sixth, while the bullpens did their part to keep it 2-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
The Bulls had an excellent chance to go up in the top of the 11th when they had runners on first and second with one out against Elephants closer Ryan Cullen and Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan at the plate.
The Prince, however, short-hopped a pitch to third that led to a force out at second before the Elephants defense caught Chang Jien-ming trying to reach third in an unusual double play that put an end to the Bulls’ scoring threat.
LIONS 5, BEARS 2
Yang Dong-yi’s clutch double in the top of the sixth broke a 2-all deadlock for the Uni-President Lions as they went on to defeat the La New Bears 5-2 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Saturday night for the Cats’ fourth consecutive victory.
The visiting Cats pounced ahead 1-0 in the top of the third on a pair of doubles by Pan Wu-hsiung and Kuo Dai-chi, and made it 2-0 an inning later when Yang hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored the runner from third.
La New finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, with Chen Chin-fong’s two-run blast off Lions starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen notching it up to 2-2. It was Chen’s 24th long ball of the year.
Unfortunately for the Bears, that was all the runs they could muster as Du Du worked a quick fifth and sixth before the Lions bullpen came in and shut down the Bears attack with three scoreless innings of one-hit relief.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th