Brother Elephant rookie right-hander Chuang Pei-chuan (²ø°ö¥þ) started his professional career with a bang on Tuesday night in Hsinchuang by beating the Chinatrust Whales 8-5.
The 23-year-old former standout at the National College of Physical Education and Sports allowed just two runs on five hits, while fanning six in seven solid innings of play in his starter's debut.
Providing all the damage on the offensive front for the Elephants were third baseman Chen Huai-shan (³¯Ãh¤s) and designated hitter Wang Jin-yung (¤ýª÷«i), who combined to knock in five of the eight runs scored with a homer a piece.
Whale starter Geraldo Guzman of the Dominican Republic showed signs of brilliance at times in a 10-strikeout outing, but left too many pitches up for the Elephant hitters as he allowed three homeruns in six innings of work.
The Whale loss pushed their non-winning streak to nine games and leaves manager Hsu Sheng-ming (®}¥Í©ú) wondering if the decision to release his top starter (Soong Jau-chih [§º»F°ò]), ace closer (Kuo-Lee Chien-fu [³¢§õ«Ø¤Ò]), best RBI man (Hung Chih-fong [¬x±Ò®p]) and two starting position players (Lin Yueh-liang [ªL©¨«G] and Yang Song-hsien [·¨ªQ©¶]) at once, in an effort to re-establish order in the clubhouse, was a prudent one.
Wednesday night's 11-4 loss to the Elephants in Hsinchu not only ran the non-winning skid to double figure for the Whales, it had the team wondering if they would even win one against the defending champs in the four-game series.
The hosting Elephants greeted all five Whale pitchers they faced with at least one run in a slugfest. Cleanup man Peng Cheng-ming (´^¬F¶{) led the way for the Elephants with a 2-for-4 night and five RBI's en route to his first game-MVP honor of the season.
Starter Miguel Martinez took the five-run lead that his offense had spotted him and cruised to a victory by allowing four runs on six hits. He managed to go eight innings deep, which gave the Elephant bullpen a rare chance to rest after a busy week in the four-game series against the Macoto Cobras last week.
The Sinon Bulls escaped with a one-run victory over the high-flying La New Bears in Thursday night's 2-1 thriller in Kaohsiung.
Fresh off their 2-0 series sweep over the Whales in Ilan last week, the hosting Bears seemed more than capable of beating Bulls starter Tsai Chung-nan (½²¥ò«n) in only his second start since returning from a serious arm injury.
Tsai came back with a three-hit gem in six strong frames. The lone run he yielded was a sharply hit liner up the middle by Bear shortstop Shih Chih-wei (¥Û¤h°¶).
Offensively for the Bulls, right fielder Yang Jin-hsiung's (·¨¶i¶¯) fourth-inning sacrifice fly that brought home the runner from third proved to be the game-winner as Tsai and his counterpart Robert Marquez managed to keep opposing batters at bay.
American lefty Jeff Andra recorded his first save of the season in a rare relief appearance. The normal starter currently leads the league with three wins in four starts.
The Cobras found their way back to the win column with a 9-2 trouncing of the President Lions in Tainan on Thursday night.
They quickly put the game out of reach for the home Lions by adding five fifth-inning runs to the 3-0 lead that they had built on homerun threat Hsieh Jia-shien's (Á¨νå) three-run homer in the top of the third off struggling Lion starter Pan Wei-luen (¼ï«ÂÛ).
It was not until the bottom of the seventh that the Lions finally broke through against Cobras starter Yang Chi-jia (·¨ÄQ¹Å) on pinch hitter Luo Ming-ching's (ù±Óë) two-run blast.
Off to his best start in three seasons, Yang Chi-jia remained perfect at 3-0 by earning his third win of the year in a two-hit game before turning to his bullpen in the seventh.
Upcoming Games
The Whales were looking to snap their losing streak in Game 3 of the series yesterday at Hsinchuang, with Game 4 coming tonight at Tienmu, while the Bears prepare to defend their home turf against the Bulls.
The Lions will need a result against the Cobras tonight and tomorrow if they wish to keep pace with the league leaders.
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