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Bulls come back to maul woeful Lions

Tsai Chung-nan of the Sinon Bulls pitched seven innings for his 14th win of the season. The Bulls defeated the Lions 4-2 in Taichung last night. PHOTO COURTESY CPBL

In the first game of a three-game series between the Sinon Bulls and President Lions, the Bulls rallied in the seventh inning to snatch the game 4-2.

The third-placed Bulls improved their record to 18-19 and are now only two-and-a-half games behind the second-placed Whales.

Bulls starter Tsai Chung-nan (蔡仲南) managed to take his 14th win of the season and is now tied in second place in the standings for most wins so far this season, just one win shy of the Brother Elephants' Jonathan Hurst.

After the game, Tsai said, "It feels really good to win my 14th of the season, not to mention helping my club to get one step closer to the playoff."

He said that he was pleased with his game, but could do better. "I was not 100 percent on the mound tonight, but I am getting the feel back for the real big and important games."

Referring to the possible playoff matches between the first-half season champions, the Brother Elephants and his club, the Bulls, he was full of confidence. "I am set to get my 15th win next week."

It didn't start so well for the Bulls, however, as the Lions' Huang Kan-lin (黃甘霖) and Luo Guo-chang (羅國璋) both collected hits in the first inning against Bulls standout Tsai. Then, with Luo Min-ching's (羅敏卿) grounder, the Lions scored their first run of the night.

After surrendering the first run, Tsai tightened up and was able to hold the Lions' bats and no-one crossed the plate until the end of the sixth inning.

On the top of the seventh, Hsu Sheng-chieh (許聖杰) of the Lions hit a solo home run off Tsai to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.

But the Bulls came back at the bottom of the seventh inning. Lead-off batter Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) hit an inside-the-park home run (the first this season) to break the ice for the Bulls.

With one out and one on, the Bulls' Luo Sung-yong (羅松永) was walked by Lions reliever Tseng Yee-cheng (曾翊誠).

After another two hits, the Bulls loaded the bases for the first time. Tseng Hua-wei (曾華偉) then hit a base-clearing triple to score all three runners on the bases and lifted the Bulls to 4-2, as they took the lead for the first time and held on until the end.

Bulls closer Ramon Morel took over in the eighth as he pitched two perfect innings to retire the side and lead the Bulls home.

COURTESY TML

Taipei Gida overcame another late-inning surge from the visiting Chiayi Luka for a come-from-behind 5-4 victory last night in Hsinchuang.

The win evens the series at one game each and gives Gida some breathing room in the league standings as they now lead Luka by one-and-a-half games.

Gida reliever Weng Fong-yu (翁豐堉) came on during the seventh, after his team had given up four runs to a vicious Luka attack and held Luka scoreless the rest of the way for the win. His counterpart, Luka reliever Matt Minter, blew a save for the loss.

Down by a run going into the bottom of the ninth, Gida hitters managed to tie the game on designated hitter Wu Chen-han's (吳承翰) sacrifice fly at 4-4 and eventually won the game with game-MVP shortstop Lin Cuen-han's (林琨瀚) game-winning RBI single.
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