The Uni-President Lions made it two wins in a row against the EDA Rhinos with a 6-2 triumph over their archrivals from Greater Kaohsiung at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave the Cats an overwhelming 15-5 edge in the 20 head-to-head contests against the first-half champs for the second half, but also cut their magic number to clinch the second-half title to one, with two games remaining on their schedule. Another win by the Cats or a loss by the second-place Lamigo Monkeys will send the former straight into the Taiwan Series that is to take place later in the month.
Starter Wang Ching-ming bounced back from an ugly loss in his last start by holding the Rhinos to two runs on eight hits over six decent innings to give his offense plenty of chances to score some runs.
That was exactly what they did as the Lions bats finally came alive, after being held scoreless for four innings, with a two-run fifth that erased an early deficit before erupting for four more runs to seal the victory that made a winner out of Wang.
Leading the attack for the Lions was Tang Jau-ting, whose clutch triple with two on scored both runners to cap a three-run seventh that blew the game wide open.
Also starring for the red-hot Lions were Kao Guo-ching, who belted three hits on the night and drove in a run to send the Rhinos packing long before the final out in the bottom of the ninth.
Taking the loss was starter Lin Chen-hua, who failed to keep the Lions hitters at bay after shutting them down in the first four innings of play. He will end the regular season with a league-best 15-7 record despite the loss.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
RSS