Though they're not quite reaching for the panic button yet, the lack of momentum since their emotionally devastating series against the Elephants at the start of the month has put a damper on the morale of the once high-flying "Rulers of the South."
Besides one lopsided loss (1-8) against the Elephants on Sept. 5, the Lions have lost four very winnable games by a combined margin of six runs, not to mention the one tie that was one strike away from being a win. Simply put, the Lions could have gone 6-1 in their last seven games to take over the lead in league standings, but instead have dropped to 5 1/2 games behind the Elephants.
In their lone victory of the series against the Chinatrust Whales last Thursday, the Lion batters went to work early by spotting starter John Frascatore a 6-0 lead through four innings of play. That was more than plenty for the American right-hander, because Frascatore also helped his own cause by keeping the Lions off the board in the seven innings he pitched.
By the time Lions skipper Hsieh Chang-hehn (謝長亨) turned to his bullpen in the eighth, his team had already grabbed a 7-0 lead.
The Whales avoided the shutout by scoring two runs the eighth to make it a 7-2 final score.
Game 2 of the series began with the Whales taking a 4-0 lead against Lion starter Jose Parra in the top of the first and the Lions playing catch-up throughout the night.
The Lions would not go away easily as they scored a run in the second, third, and fourth off Whale starter Kuo-Lee Chien-fu (
The highlight of the game was the brilliant effort by Whale reliever Liu Yu-chan (柳裕展), who entered the game in the sixth with a 6-5 lead that was shaky at best. The right-hander rose to the occasion and three-hit the Lions in three solid innings of relief en route to his first game-MVP honor of the season. The Whales ended up winning the hard-fought battle because neither team would score again.
The series finale on Sunday also went the Whales' way, as the Lions lost the lead twice in a classic seesaw battle that ended 8-5.
A three-run third capped by Whale left fielder Wang Cheng-hao's (王宸浩) two-run single to left erased the 1-0 lead that the Lions had taken in the game' s first inning. Wang would strike again in the fifth with his bases-clearing triple to give the Whales the lead for good, after the Lions had come back to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Wang's five-RBI night made him the unanimous selection for the game-MVP honor.
In the other two series around the league, there were no surprises as the favored teams won in their respective series. The Sinon Bulls treated their diehard fans in Taichung with a 3-0-1 record in the four-game series against the First Securities Agan. Game 1 showcased Yang Ren-ming (陽仁明) and Yu Wen-pin (余文彬) of the Bulls as the two young guns combined to turn in a 4-0 shutout on Tuesday night.
Game 2 on Wednesday night had the Agan holding a slim 1-0 lead into the seventh before the Bulls tied it on slugger Chang Tai-shan's (
RSS