The President Lions picked up where they left off earlier in the series against the visiting Chinatrust Whales in games 3 and 4 of the four-game series last week by holding the Whales to just one run over the two-game span. It was the second time in a week that the Whale offense was held to one run over a two-game span.
After two scoreless innings in Game 3 on Friday night, the Lions drew first blood against Whale starter Kuo-lee Chien-fu (郭李建夫) as shortstop Lin Yueh-liang's (林岳亮) two-out throw to first sailed wide, an error that allowed the runner from third to come home.
The Lions quickly added two more runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth for a commanding 6-0 lead, highlighted by third baseman Wu Jia-rong's (吳佳榮) run-scoring triple to deep left-center in the bottom of the fourth.
The six runs by the Lion offense were more than plenty for starter Jose Parra to pick up his first win of the season in the 7-1 final. The 31-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic yielded one run on six hits over seven strong innings in his best outing since joining the Lions in July.
Saturday night's series finale in Tainan was another masterpiece by Lion rookie sensation Pan Wei-luen (潘威倫) who pitched 6-2/3 innings of shutout ball before turning the game to his bullpen mates. In the middle of a 22-inning scoreless streak, Pan has not allowed a run (unearned) since July 26th.
The 6-0 final score in favor of the Lions not only gave them the series sweep, it also made a 10-game winner out of Pan, the clear front runner for the Rookie of Year honor.
The series between the Sinon Bulls and the First Securities Agan began with a rare Agan victory in Taichung on Thursday night by a score of 3-1.
Agan starter Claudio Galva was solid through the first five frames as he allowed one run on three hits while fanning seven. The story of the game, however, was the three innings of hitless relief pitching that game-MVP Hsu Wen-hsiung (許文雄) of the Agan provided. Hsu completely shut down a powerful Bulls lineup that featured three of the league's top 10 hitters to help his team win for just the second time in the past 17 games.
Offensively for the Agan, first baseman Tsai Hung-tse (蔡泓澤) and third baseman Chiou Chang-ting (丘昌榮) both took Bull starter Yang Chien-fu (陽建福) deep for a pair of solo homers.
Game 2 of the series was cut to five innings due to heavy rain in the Taichung area on Friday night. After a 30-minute wait with no sign of the rain easing up, league officials convened with both managers before announcing the completion of the game at the end of fifth.
The Bulls won in a more convincing manner on Sunday in Hsinchu, as ace starter Jeff Andra registered win number 14 in a 3-0 gem.
The left-hander wowed the crowd throughout the game with his pin-point control, as he fanned six while walking only one. The major league scouts that were spotted in the stands were impressed by Andra's accuracy around the plate, along with his 14-1 record that could be worthy of a tryout in the majors for Andra next spring.
The Brother Elephants and the Gida played to a 4-all draw late on Sunday night in Hsinchuang, after two overwhelming Elephants routs in games 1 and 2.
RSS