Huang Kang-lin's (黃甘霖) 3-for-4 night with four RBI's propelled the President Lions to a 7-0 shutout victory over the La New Bears in Tainan on Sunday night, capping off an otherwise frustrating three-game series.
The heavily favored Lions started their homestand in Game 1 on a down note when the Bears doubled them up in an 8-4 decision on Thursday night in a battle between two American starters: Phillip Bailey for the Bears, and Benj Sampson for the big cats. Both starters were solid through the first five frames with the Bears taking a 1-0 lead on slugger Pan Chung-wei's solo blast to deep left off Sampson in the fourth. Then came Lion relievers Tsao Jung-yang (曹竣揚) and Kao Long-wei (高龍偉) who simply could not keep the Bear bats quiet in yielding three and four runs respectively.
Bailey earned his fourth win of the season by allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings, while Tsao took the tough loss in a rather forgettable performance.
Huang Kang-lin would play a key role in Game 2 of the series on Saturday because it was his run-scoring double in the bottom of the seventh that tied the game up at 2-all to salvage what would be an ugly loss to the last-placed Bears. The speedster from Chiayi was the unanimous choice by the press for the game-MVP honor with his 3-for-4 night.
The Macoto Cobras' freefall continued with their 4-7 loss to the Chinatrust Whales in Tienmu on Saturday. Whale newcomer Rusty Meacham followed his 2-0 debuting victory with another strong effort by taking a 7-0 shutout into the ninth before yielding four straight runs on a tiring arm.
Offensively for the Whales, third baseman Chen Jia-hung (陳嘉宏) and catcher Shih Jin-sho (石金受) combined to bat in five of the seven runs against a flat Cobra staff. The triumph extended the Whales' winning streak to six games and reduced the gap between them and the fourth-placed Sinon Bulls to just two-and-a-half games, while the loss set the serpents back three straight.
Game 1 of the doubleheader in Kaohsiung on Sunday between the Bulls and the Brother Elephants was a classic pitchers' duel between Bulls' second-year man Yang Jien-fu (陽建福) and the league's current victory leader, Jonathan Hurst. Yang scattered three harmless hits in the eight outstanding innings while Hurst took a no-hitter two outs into the seventh before Bulls' cleanup man Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) broke it up with a clean liner to right.
Physical fatigue finally caught up to the 37-year-old Hurst, as he gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases in a scoreless ninth to set up Bull outfielder Kao Jien-long's (高建龍) game-winning two-run single. The heart-breaking 2-0 loss denied Hurst his eighth victory of the season, and made a winner out of Yang for the fifth time this year.
Fans that stayed for Game 2 of the doubleheader were treated to a different kind of ball game as both teams struck early and scored all their runs in the first three innings of the contest. Unlike its combined 1-for-11 effort, the heart of the Elephant order erupted for six hits in eleven chances for four RBI's, highlighted by free swinger Peng Cheng-ming's (彭政閔) two-run blast in the first and Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan's (陳致遠) two-run bomb in the third.
Bull starter Tsai Chung-nan (蔡仲南) allowed all six of the Elephant runs in the 6-3 decision as he managed to last only three innings in his fourth loss of the season. The 2002 Rookie of the Year struggled with his control, missing the strike zone early and often in issuing three walks.
Elephant righty Wu Jung-yi (吳俊億) got the win behind the strong offensive support to extend his personal winning streak against the Bulls to five games, dating back to last season.
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