A pair of runs in the eighth inning by the Uni-President Lions turned a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead as they held on to defeat the Brother Elephants at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon to close out an otherwise wet weekend with a win.
Trailing by a run heading into the top of the eighth, the Cats led off the inning with back-to-back singles off Elephants reliever Luis Gonzalez, before Pan “TAKE” Wu-hsiung beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt at first for an infield single to load the bases.
That set up Kao Guo-ching’s bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 2-2 and, with the bases still juiced, that paved the way for Chang “OEO” Tai-shan’s sacrifice fly that knocked in the go-ahead run.
Even though Gonzalez got out of the jam without giving up any more runs, the damage was done as the Lions looked to Kao Jien-san and Lin Yueh-ping to toss a scoreless eighth and ninth respectively to preserve the victory for Yuya Kamada, who became the league’s first six-game winner after pitching a perfect seventh in relief of Lee Wei-hua.
Taking the loss was Gonzalez, who tossed a perfect seventh in relief of starter Lin Yu-ching, before surrendering the game-turning runs in the eighth to blow his first save opportunity of the year.
Monkeys 2, Bulls 1
Lin Chih-sheng homered in his first at-bat to give the Lamigo Monkeys a quick 2-0 lead in the opening frame as they held on to top the Sinon Bulls 2-1 on the road at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon.
It was only the second time that the veteran slugger had gone deep for his team in what many would consider a slow start, but it was just enough to lift the Primates past their foes in an important road win that kept them in stride with the top-ranked Lions as they nipped a two-game slide with the narrow win to conclude the weekend’s play.
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,