Bulls slip past Whales in pitching duel

The Sinon Bulls edged the Chinatrust Whales 2-1 in a pitching contest in Taichung last night.

In the last game of a three-game weekend series between the two teams, the Bulls edged the Whales by scoring two runs in the fourth.

The Bulls sent Martinez to the mound in search of his eighth win of the season as the local winning leader Sung Chao-chee took the mound for the Whales.

Sung pitched three perfect innings, while Martinez did not allow any runs in the first three innings, despite a bases loaded situation in the third.

The Whales struck first on the top of the fourth to score their first and only run of the night with two hits, a double by Hung Chee-feng(洪啟峰), to put the pressure on the Bulls.

The Bulls, however, responded in the same inning by getting two hits and took advantage on a walk and a pass ball issued by Sung, scoring two runs and taking the lead 2-1. The Bulls' Ho Chee-shien (何紀賢) pitched the last two thirds and orchestrated a double play while the bases were loaded.

Sung pitched a complete game with nine strike outs, but still took his seventh loss of the season.

Martinez improved his record to 8-12.

The Bulls took the game and the series by winning two out of three over the weekend and will head to Taipei to play the first-place Elephants this coming weekend.

Elephants 11, Lions 5,

A sell-out crowd saw the Brother Elephants smashing the President Lions 11-5 in Hsinchuang last night.

In front of more than 7,500 fans at its Taipei home field, the Elephants' offense handed another loss to the Lions

Burgos took another loss (10-11), as Elephants starter Wang Chin-lee(王勁力) registered his ninth win of the season, one short of his career record set last season.

The Lions scored on the top of the first inning by scoring one run on Luo Min-ching's (羅敏卿) single to the right.

But the Elephants struck right back in the same inning to tie the score with a triple by Chen Rwei-chen (陳瑞振) and a fielder's error.

At the bottom of the third inning the Elephants scored the go-ahead run when Peng Cheng-min (彭政閔) was batting, to lead the Lions 2-1.

Burgos' nightmare came in the fourth and the fifth innings as he gave up four runs in each.

In the fourth inning the Elephants' Chen Chih-yuen (陳致遠) cleared the loaded bases with a double to the center to knock in three runs.

After the Lions scored two runs on the top of the fifth the Elephants came back again in the same inning.

In the fifth, the Elephants' hit another five hits off Burgos to cross the plate four more times, leading the Lions 10-3 after the fifth inning was completed.

The Elephants took the game 11-5 and will play the last game of the series tonight in Hsinchuang.

The visiting Kaohsiung Fala avenged Friday night's extra-inning loss by beating Chiayi Luka 4-1 in front of an enthusiastic Tainan crowd.

The victory by Fala prevented the idle Taichung Agan from clinching the regular season title for another night.

Trailing by one after five innings of play, the Fala scored three times on top of the sixth, thanks to a Luka error, a hit bats-man and two timely singles by third baseman Kuo Chan-tin and catcher Hung Yi-chung.

Fala starter Hsu Wen-hsiung gave up an unearned run on eight hits over eight solid innings for the win, while reliever Lee Fong-hwa retired the side in the ninth for his seventh save of the season.