Luther Hackman tossed eight strong innings of two-run ball, while Kuo Dai-chi and Marshall McDougall each drove in a pair of runs as the Uni-President Lions humbled the Sinon Bulls 6-2 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to win the weekend series 2-1.
It was the third straight quality start for the US veteran, who remained unbeaten at 3-0 in the three starts he has had so far after spending more than a month on the sidelines at the start of the season with an injury.
As for McDougall, the pair of RBIs also upped his team-best total to 25 for the season, good enough for third-best in the league.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The visiting Cats actually fell behind 0-1 in the third inning when the Bulls scored their first run of the contest on a fielding error by Lions shortstop Wang Tzu-song.
After five scoreless innings, the Lions would finally wake up and pull off three runs in the sixth, courtesy of an RBI single by Kuo and a two-run double by McDougall.
Three more runs by the Lion offense in the seventh quickly upped their lead to an insurmountable 6-1.
Even though the home Bulls would plate a run in the eighth off Hackman, that was as close as they got as Jerome Williams retired the final three Sinon batters with a perfect ninth to preserve the win.
Bulls starter Eric Junge cruised through to the fifth inning unharmed with a one-hitter, but stumbled in the sixth with three allowed runs on four hits to lose his second game of the season.
ELEPHANTS 7, BEARS 4
The Brother Elephants scored three unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth innings to break a 4-4 deadlock and then held on to beat the La New Bears 7-4 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The win not only ended a two-game slide for the men in the golden uniform, but also avoided what would have been a three-game sweep at the hands of the Bears.
After Chen Chih-pong’s two-run single capped a three-run sixth that gave the Elephants a 4-1 lead, the Bears returned the favor by scoring three in the very next inning to tie the game at 4-4.
That was when the Elephants’ bats came alive once more as they mustered the next three runs to win it 7-4.
Carlos Castillo was credited with the win, while the loss went to the Bears’ Luis Villarreal.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946