Riding on the success of their foreign starting trio, the Brother Elephants shot to the top of the standings by sweeping the President Lions in the four-game series last week.
The defending champions did what no other teams has done all year long by handing the Lions their first four-game losing streak of the season with solid efforts from Japanese righties Yokota Hisanori and Nakagomi Sin, and former American Major Leaguer Jonathan Hurst.
After Yokota's two-hit outing over six innings in Tuesday's 7-2 triumph and veteran submariner Wu Jung-yi's (§d«T»õ) solid relief effort in Thursday's 12-6 slugfest which spotted the Elephants a 2-0 lead in the series earlier last week, Nakagomi came out firing by shutting down the Lions on four hits over six innings in Saturday's 6-1 final, before ace righty Jonathan Hurst upped his league-leading mark for total victories to 17 with a gutsy win in Sunday's 4-3 series finale.
The Lions staff that had been brilliant until last week with a league-best 2.84 team ERA was no match for the potent Elephant lineup, led by cleanup man Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-ming's (´^¬F¶{) combined 6-for-9 effort with nine RBIs and two homers over the four-game span.
Part of the reason that the Elephants were able to reclaim the lead in the league standings for a potential shot at an unprecedented fourth title was the poor play by the slumping Sinon Bulls, which lost three of four to the formerly struggling Chinatrust Whales.
After allowing the Whales to come back and steal one from them with outfielder Huang Kwei-yu's (¶À¶Q¸Î) two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh to complete the comeback rally in the 5-4 series opener on Wednesday, the Bulls managed to even the series at one game apiece in Game 2 on Thursday with a 5-3 victory.
Starter Osvaldo Martinez overcame yielding two home runs to the Whales in a five-hit, eight-inning performance to pocket his ninth win of the year.
The eighth-year veteran from the Dominican Republic was the direct beneficiary of fellow hitter Chang "the Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's (±i®õ¤s) red-hot bat, because it was Chang's two-run shot (his 20th of the season) that put the game out of reach for the stubborn Whales.
Third baseman Chen Jia-hung's (³¯¹Å§») two-run shot off Sinon ace Yang Jien-fu (¶§«ØºÖ) in the top of the seventh on Friday night broke open a 2-1 game that had been a pitchers' duel up to that point. After having his scoreless streak snapped at 34 innings by Whales outfielder Kuo Dai-yung's (³¢©§µú) run-scoring double in the fourth, Yang allowed two three more runs before all was said and done as he took the loss in the 6-1 final.
Sinon captain Huang "Brother Tung" Chung-yi's (¶À©¾¸q) solo homer in the bottom of the seventh off Whales reliever Liu Jau-hao (¼B¥ü»¨) was the only spotlight for the Bulls' offense that was limited to a single run for the second time in as many days in Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Whales.
The showdown between the two former Taiwan Major League (TML) clubs went the La New Bears' way as they took the four-game series against the Macoto Cobras in a decisive 3-1 fashion.
Six early runs in the first two innings were plenty on Friday for starter Chris Wright as the American right-hander cruised to his fourth victory of the year to even his record at 4-4.
The 9-3 final not only put the Bears up 3-0 for the series, it gave them their 20th win of the half and their 38th of the year -- two shy of doubling their 2003 winning total of 20 games.
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