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Lions' Tseng Yi-cheng is back with a bang

Tseng Yi-cheng gave the President Lions a head start against the Sinon Bulls on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO: CPBL

For the first time in nearly six months, Tseng Yi-cheng (曾翊誠) left the field a winner. The once promising, hard-throwing starter for the President Lions, who suffered a near career-ending leg injury last season, earned his first victory since mid-April in a rare starting appearance as the Lions downed the Sinon Bulls in the 10-3 blowout on Wednesday.

The win pushed the Lions' lead over the second-place Bulls back to one-and-a-half games, after the Bulls had won Tuesday night's series opener by a final of 6-0 to trail the big cats by only a half-game in the league standings.

Not taking anything away from Tseng's five innings of four-hit, shutout ball in just his third start of the year, the night belonged to the Lion hitters who connected for 17 hits to tie their season-high mark for the third time.

Leadoff man Yang Seng (陽森), as well as third baseman Wu Jia-rong (吳佳榮) and right fielder Wang Chuan-jia (王傳家), each contributed three hits in the Lions' offensive outburst, highlighted by Yang Seng's three-run blast to deep right off Sinon starter Osvaldo Martinez in the big cats' six-run second.

The loss cooled off a red-hot Bulls' squad that had won four straight, and five of their previous six, to climb back into title contention.

They are the only team that holds a winning record against the Lions, the runaway first-half champs that are already guaranteed a spot in the postseason play.

Tuesday night's contest between the two clubs had the Bulls hanging onto a 1-0 lead until catcher Yeh Jung-chang's (葉君璋) two-run double in the top of the seventh blew the game wide open.

Cleanup man Chang "The Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's (張泰山) ninth-inning solo homer not only gave the league leader in home runs 18 for the year, it completed the shutout with an exclamation mark.

Collecting the win for the Bulls was lefty reliever Ho Chi-shien (何紀賢), who scattered five hits and struck out eight over six solid frames in relief for starter Tsai Chung-nan (蔡仲南).

Looking ahead into the rest of the week, the top two teams will finish out their four-game series in Tainan with the second-half title at stake. The Lions can add to their slim one-and-a-half game lead over the Bulls with a strong finish, while the Bulls can claim the lead for the first time since the All-Star break with back-to-back wins against the Lions over the weekend.

Lurking right behind the Bulls are the Brother Elephants, who will host the Macoto Cobras for a three-game series, the result of which could determine the fate of the defending champs.

Should the Elephants hold up, as they have done all season against the Cobras (with a 12-5 mark in head-to-head competitions thus far), the defending champs can then win the second half by taking their upcoming series against the Lions and the Bulls.

If the Elephants falter against the serpents, they will have to win most of their remaining games and hope for the Lions and the Bulls to lose down the road just to have a chance at playing in the postseason.

As for the showdown between the Chinatrust Whales and the La New Bears in Kaohsiung, the Bears must come out strong in their home stand to prove that their six-game winning streak in late-September was no fluke. A couple of impressive Bears' skids were snapped last week: rookie slugger Lin Chih-sheng's (林志盛) 23-game hitting streak was stopped and pitcher Wu Si-yo's (吳偲佑) 4-0 September run was halted by the Bulls last Sunday.

Although neither team has been mathematically eliminated from the postseason play, both clubs realize that a respectable finish, beginning with a good showing this weekend, would be as enjoyable as their slim chances to play in the postseason.
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