With the first-half title on the line in a one-game playoff situation, the Macoto Cobras dominated the Sinon Bulls in a 4-0 shutout victory at Chiayi on Thursday night for their first-ever regular season crown.
The serpents could have won the first-half title outright with a win over the President Lions in Tainan on June 30. But a ninth-inning collapse by the Cobras bullpen blew a 1-0 lead that eventually ended in a 2-1 loss to give them and the Bulls n identical records (28-20-2), forcing the one-game playoff.
On Thursday, neither club could score through the first five innings, with the Bulls being kept in complete check by Cobras starter Lin Ying-jeh in a no-hit bid, while Bulls right-hander Lenin Picota kept the Cobras in check.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
It took three consecutive singles by the Cobras' Mario Encarnacion, Luo Ming-ching, and Deng Shih-yang, all with two outs, to score the Cobras' first two runs off Picota in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Leading 2-0, the serpents doubled their lead in the seventh on one swing by cleanup man Hsieh Jia-shien, whose two-run home run off Bulls reliever Osvaldo Martinez to right-center, again with two outs, to put the Cobras up 4-0.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you I was not nervous during the at-bat, especially after failing to come up anything in my first three at-bats," Hsieh said after the game, referring to his league-leading 17th homer of the season that sealed the win for the Cobras.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Rookie righty Lin En-yu pitched a perfect ninth, after Lin Ying-jeh's eight magnificent innings of two-hit ball to nail down the win, sending waves of orange-and-black ribbons onto the field as the players stormed out of the dugout to celebrate.
"It's simply awesome," Cobras manager Kuo Tai-yuan said after the game. "Words can't even begin to describe all the hard work that we as a team have done.
"Outstanding job by everyone in the organization all around."
Missing two of their regular starters -- outfielder Tseng Hua-wei and shortstop Cheng Jau-han to injuries -- the normally powerful Bulls' offense was limited to a pair of singles off Lin Ying-jeh.
It was the first time that the Bulls have been shut out this season.
"He [Picota] did a good job for us as far as keeping us in the game." Bulls manager Liu Rong-hua said. "It's too bad that our hitters never came around like we had hoped to back him up."
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
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
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68. They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings. In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures. The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four. “I was moved
RSS