Their inability to come up with the timely hits in the extra innings lead the Uni-President Lions and the Sinon Bulls to a 5-5 draw in a 12-inning marathon at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night, giving the Cats a 2-0-1 finish in the three-game weekend series against the Bulls.
Both teams had the chance to take the lead in the extra innings, as the Bulls placed runners in scoring position during the 11th and the 12th, while the Lions did the same during the 10th and the 12th.
However, they would bat a combined 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in the extra frames to end the four-plus hour marathon in a draw.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Even though the Bulls did not win the game, it was clearly a moral victory for them as they rallied from three down in the ninth inning to force the contest into extra innings.
Trailing 5-2 heading into the top of the ninth, the Bulls took the Lions’ Lin Yueh-ping head-on by slapping a pair of singles off the closer to set up Wu Tsong-jung’s sacrifice-fly to make it 5-3.
With runner on second, the next batter Su Jien-rong made Lin pay play by going deep for a two-run blast over the left-field wall to tie the game at 5-5.
ELEPHANTS 6, MONKEYS 3
The Brother Elephants doubled up the Lamigo Monkeys in a 6-3 final at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to avoid being swept in the three-game set over the weekend.
Wang Sheng-wei led off the game with a rare triple off Lamigo starter Steve Hammond for the defending champs and scored two batters later on Chang Cheng-wei’s RBI-groundout to give the Elephants a quick 1-0 advantage.
The Elephants would increase their lead to 3-0 with a run off Hammond in the second and the third, before the potent Lamigo lineup finally got on the board in a three-run fourth, highlighted by Chen Chin-fong’s two-run homer off Elephant starter Yeh Yong-jeh to tie the game at 3-all.
The score remained at 3-all during the next two frames until the Elephant hitters went to work again on Hammond in the sixth, this time with back-to-back doubles by Chen Guan-ren and Huang Shih-hao, to spark a three-run spurt to put their team ahead for good.
Guan Da-yuan was credited with his second win of the season with 4-1/3 innings of shutout relief on three hits to beat Hammond, who surrendered five runs on nine hits over 5-1/3 innings in his second setback of the year.
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
Taiwan last night defeated Cuba 2-0 in their World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 Group B game at the Taipei Dome and finished the group second. At the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, South Korea yesterday defeated Australia 5-2, while Japan last night won 11-3 against the Dominican Republic. On Sunday, Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome to advance to the Super Round. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champions and Group B winners Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the
TWO-NIL LOSS: Taiwan’s best chance to score came at the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but Venezuela’s Liarvis Breto got out of the jam Taiwan yesterday suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome. Taiwan had seven hits, one more than Venezuela’s six, but catcher Carlos Perez’s two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured victory for Venezuela. Taiwan’s best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuela reliever Liarvis Breto struck out Chen Chen-wei before reliever Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin
As sporting celebrations go, it does not quite have the charm of Roger Milla’s hip-wiggling shimmy with a corner flag at the 1990 World Cup or the imperious swagger of Usain Bolt’s iconic lightning pose. However, a dance move inspired by US president-elect Donald Trump’s stilted on-stage boogieing has rapidly become the celebration of choice across the US sporting world. From the blood-soaked UFC to the hard-hitting NFL and the reliably decorous world of the LPGA Tour, athletes across North America have succumbed to the viral Trump dance craze in the past week. On Monday, US soccer star Christian Pulisic became the latest
RSS