Kuo Dai-chi’s towering two-run blast off Matt DeSalvo in the bottom of the eighth broke a scoreless tie to give the top-ranked Uni-President Lions a 2-0 lead as they went on to defeat the Lamigo Monkeys by the same score at the Pingtung Baseball Field late yesterday afternoon to sweep the three-game series.
It was the second straight game between the two clubs that was decided by a home run, following Kao Guo-ching’s three-run blast in Saturday night’s contest in Greater Tainan, in which the Lions won 3-2 to clinch the series.
The win also widened the Cats’ lead over the second-place Monkeys to three games in the standings as they look to gain the upper hand against their nemeses from Taoyuan, who used to call the city of Greater Kaohsiung home.
The classic pitchers’ duel between DeSalvo and the Lions’ Eric Wordekemper saw both hurlers hold their ground despite both allowing at least a runner on in all but two innings through the sixth.
However, DeSalvo’s luck was the first to run out as he walked the Lions’ Chang “OEO” Tai-shan with one out in the bottom of the eighth to set up Kuo’s homer over the right-field wall.
Lions skipper Terushi Nakashima sent closer Lin Yueh-ping to the mound to work a perfect ninth to preserve the shutout victory for reliever Liao Wen-yang, who entered in the seventh for Wordekemper and tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth to pick up his second win of the season.
Taking the tough loss was DeSalvo, who despite his five strikeouts, gave up two runs on eight hits over 7-2/3 innings, while fanning five and walking three to fall to 2-1 for the season.
BULLS 5, ELEPHANTS 1
The Sinon Bulls avoided a three-game sweep by topping the Brother Elephants at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon.
The win also ended a three-game slide for the Bulls, who look to climb out of the cellar in the standings this week as they trail the third-place Elephants by two games nearly a month into the season.
Chang Jien-ming’s RBI single capped a three-run seventh that blew a 1-all tie wide open to help make a winner out of reliever Shen Yu-jeh, who pitched a scoreless sixth to beat his counterpart Jim Magrane of the US, who gave up three runs in just 2/3 innings.
Bulls second baseman Chen Pai-cheng also chipped in two runs.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Japan yesterday secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with a 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada, thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama’s 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider. Shibahara and Aoyama powered through the opening set 6-3, breaking twice for a quick 3-0 lead. Cross and Marino hit back in the second, edging it 7-5 to level the match, before the Japanese pair regained control in the third. Canada’s 18-year-old Victoria Mboko edged Shibahara 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a marathon opening clash. Mboko fired eight aces to
DAY OF BLOWOUTS: Elsewhere, the Lakers clinched the third seed in the Western Conference with a 140-109 pounding of the under-strength Houston Rockets The Denver Nuggets on Friday improved their playoff position, with a triple double from Nikola Jokic helping them to a 117-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Serbian put up 26 points, 13 assists and 16 rebounds. The triple-double performance, his 34th this season, ensured that he will finish the regular season as just the third NBA player to average a triple double across an entire season. The win meant the Nuggets improved to 49-32 on the season and gave them a real chance of grabbing fourth place and home-court advantage in the playoffs. Aaron Gordon top scored with 33 points for Denver,
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