Week 1 of the 2004 Chinese Professional Baseball League season is officially in the books, and the two teams that participated in the two-game series in Kaohsiung last weekend -- the Brother Elephants and the Sinon Bulls -- both played with such intensity that neither appeared to have missed a beat in the offseason.
The two teams ended up splitting the series at one game apiece, with the Bulls taking the season opener by the score of 4-2 and the Elephants winning Game 2 with a 5-4 score.
Saturday night's season opener was scoreless until the Bulls got on the board in the third with right fielder Chang Jia-hao's (張家浩) sacrifice fly to deep left.
The one-run lead was short-lived as the defending champs fought back in the same inning on left fielder Lin Ming-shien's (林明憲) blooper to shallow right that brought home catcher Chen Rei-chang (陳瑞昌), whose leadoff double started the Elephant attack.
The two teams would trade outs in the next two frames until Bulls shortstop Cheng Jau-hahn (鄭兆行) got a hold of a slider from Elephant starter Jonathan Hurst in the top of the sixth and launched his first long ball of the season. The two-out, three-run blast scored both runners in the corner and gave the Bulls a 4-1 lead.
The Bulls turned to right-hander Yu Wen-pin (余文彬) in the eighth to relieve a tiring Yang Jien-fu (陽建福) who allowed one run on six hits while fanning seven in as many innings for the win.
Yu would yield a run-scoring double to Elephant cleanup man Peng Cheng-ming (彭政閔) after getting two quick outs in a 4-2 game before he settled in and retired the next four batters he faced for his first save of the season.
Sunday's game began with the Bulls drawing first blood again for a 1-0 lead in the second.
The unearned run was not charged against Elephant starter Nakagomi Sin since it was Elephant centerfielder Chen Chih-yuan's (陳致遠) misplay on a routine fly to center that brought home the run.
Down 0-1, the Elephant offense exploded in the bottom of the second against Bull starter Jeff Andra for four runs, powered by designated hitter Lee Chih-jeh's (李志傑) two-run single and shortstop Chen Rei-cheng's (陳瑞振) two-run double.
The Bulls would tie it up at 4-all on team captain Huang Chung-yi's (黃忠義) solo blast in the sixth and a pair of runs off Nakagomi in the seventh.
Both teams would put up another run each to make it 5-5 after nine before Bull reliever Osvaldo Martinez hit Elephant first baseman Tsai Fong-an (蔡豐安) with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth to squeeze home the game-winner.
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