Cheng-ming sets a new league standard

Master slugger Peng Cheng-ming of Brother Elephant, who is setting league benchmarks and strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents.. PHOTO: BROTHER ELEPHANT

The red-hot bat of Brother Elephant slugger Peng Cheng-ming (彭政閔) has become so deadly over the past month of play, opposing pitchers have collectively decided to intentionally walk him, out of respect, for a league-high four times in the young Chinese Professional Baseball League season so far.

Only intentional walks have been issued in the 75 games that have been played thus far, and Peng has accounted for nearly half of them. The fourth-year pure hitter nicknamed "Chia Chia" currently leads the league in all four major offensive categories: highest batting average of .466, most hits (41), home runs (6), and RB's (25).

Unlike season, where "Chia Chia" started off slow at the plate and did not break the .300 plateau until early May, the defending batting champ has simply been on fire since his 2-for-4 effort against the Sinon Bulls on Opening Day. Other than his slim, one-homer lead over Macoto Cobra standout Hsieh Jia-shien in the long ball department, the 23-year-old native of Kaohsiung separates himself from the next-best-in-line by a sizable margin.

In addition to Peng's 11-hit and 4-RBI lead over Sinon Bulls' Huang Chung-yi and Chang Tai-shan, respectively, his .466 batting average is a whopping 128 points higher than Cobra outfielder Yang Rei-chih.

"If he [Peng] keeps this up, there won't be any races for the different offensive categories at the end of the season," fellow teammate Chen Rei-cheng said, referring to a potential unprecedented quadruple batting crown for Peng at the end of the season.

wrap-up

The Chinatrust Whales and the Bulls split the first two games in their four-game series earlier this week. After the Whales won on Tuesday by a 7-5 final, the hosting Bulls quickly evened the series at one-all on Wednesday in an impressive 7-3 decision.

Leftfielder Kuo Dai-yung's solo blast off Bull reliever Kuo Yung-chih that put the Whales up for good in the top of the eighth was the difference in the game.

It made a winner out of normal closer Dario Veras and while sending Kuo Yung-chih to his second defeat of the year.

Wednesday night's equalizer had the Whales holding a 2-1 lead after six innings before the Bulls stumped Whale starter Geraldo Guzman for five straight runs in the seventh, capped by pinch hitter Kao Jien-long's (高健龍) two-run single.

Bull Yang Jien-fu (陽建福) allowed four runs on four hits while fanning five in eight innings for the win. His five walks nearly cost him the victory had it not been for the Bulls' five-run seventh.

The President Lions gave the Elephants a near scare in their 5-6 loss to the defending champs at Hsinchu on Thursday night. Elephant starter Nakagomi Sin took a 6-0 no-hitter shutout into the eighth before 15-year veteran Luo Ming-ching broke it up with a standup double that found its way to the corner of right field. An error later, Lion centerfielder Huang Kang-lin (黃甘霖) would follow with his second dinger of the season, this one a three-run shot, to chase Sin in a hurry.

Lion fielder Wang Chuan-jia cut the Elephant lead down to 6-5 with his two-run blast in the ninth off Elephant closer Wang Jing-li, but that was as close as the Lions would get because Wang then retired the side for his league-leading fifth save of the season.

Round between the two former Taiwan Major League (TML) squads (Cobras and La New Bears) went to the serpents as starter Kleber Ojima put on a strikeout clinic with 13 in 7-2/3 innings of work.

The Brazilian-born Japanese allowed three runs.

Upcoming Games

The Whales will finish their four-game series against the Bulls at Hsinchuang tonight while the Elephants take on the Lions at Tienmu tomorrow afternoon. The Bears will try to get back on the winning track after losing eight in a row in their game against the Cobras in Taichung tomorrow.