The Uni-President Lions continued their winning ways with a convincing 8-2 victory over the La New Bears on the road in Kaohsiung on Friday night to extend their streak to four in a row.
Starter Chris Gissell of the US took a 4-0 shutout two outs into the seventh before surrendering a run on three straight singles to end his night. He allowed at least a runner on in all but two of the innings he pitched, but managed to get out of trouble on each occasion until the Bears finally broke through.
Leading the Lions attack — which had averaged an astonishing 11 runs per game during their four-game winning streak — were Pan Wu-hsiung and Chen Lien-hong, whose combined 5-for-11 hitting with four RBIs accounted for half of the Lions’ total run production.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Also starring for the defending champs was outfielder Yang Song-hsuen, whose several fine defensive plays stole at least a run from the Bears.
After scoring in the seventh to avoid the shutout, the Bears managed to plate another run in the eighth on a solo homer by Nate Gold. That was as close as they got as they dropped their fourth game in six against their archrivals from Tainan.
Gissell picked up his third win of the season, allowing a run on nine hits over six-and-two-third innings to beat his counterpart Hsu Wen-hsiung, who is winless in his last 12 starts against the Lions and sports a dismal 0-8 record in those games.
BULLS 9, ELEPHANTS 2
Scoring early and often, the league-leading Sinon Bulls trounced the Brother Elephants at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday.
It was the ninth straight loss that the Elephants suffered since winning their 899th game in club history on April 10.
Four quick runs by the Bulls off Elephants starter Liu Yu-chan in the opening inning set the tone early and they tacked on five more over the next three frames for a commanding 9-0 lead.
That was more than ample for Sinon starter Lin Ying-jeh, who pitched a one-hit gem over seven shutout innings before his bullpen closed the deal.
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