Foreign pitchers rose to the occasion for the resurging Brother Elephants last week as they swept the three-game series against the La New Bears to trail the league-leading Chinatrust Whales by two games in the latest standings.
After Japanese starter Ichiro Mutojun won Thursday's series opener in Kaohsiung by a final score of 7-6, the Elephants sent American veteran Jonathan Hurst to the mound to take on Mexican native Walter Silva on Friday night.
Hurst would follow Mutojun with a five-hit, complete-game win in a 4-2 decision that featured eight strikeouts by the 38-year-old former Major Leaguer. Other than yielding a solo shot to Bear slugger Pan Chung-wei in the second and a run-scoring infield single to shortstop Lin Jien-hung, Hurst was in full control of his pitches.
Offensively for the Elephants, cleanup man Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-ming's 3-for-4 night with three RBIs accounted for most of the scoring by his club.
Elephants 5, Bears 4
It took a four-run eighth by the Elephants to rally past the Bears in Sunday's series finale for a clean sweep of the hosts.
Shortstop Chen Rei-cheng knocked home two of the four Elephant runs in the fateful eighth with an opposite-field single before left fielder Lee "Rambo Junior" Chih-jeh connected for two more runs with a lining double to right to put his team up for good.
Set-up man Wang Jing-li was credited with the win for allowing a run in the seventh while veteran righty Liu Yi-chuan picked up the save for retiring the side in order in a scoreless ninth.
Also winning in sweeping fashion last week were the Whales, whose three-game nipping of the President Lions cost the big cats their lead in the standings for the time being.
Following their close 2-1 victory in Chiayi on Thursday, the Whales took on the Lions in front of a hostile Tainan crowd that watched its favorite Lions blow a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when three straight hits by the Whales, all with two outs, drove home three runs for a come-from-behind, 4-2 triumph.
Reliever Tsao Jung-yang was tagged for the loss in a sub-par outing. The former starter for the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) surrendered back-to-back doubles to the two hitters he faced for the game.
Whale first baseman Chen Jien-wei came up with the game-winning RBI on a double that he ripped to deep-center off Tsao. It was the second game in a row that the soft-spoken clutch hitter had delivered the game-winner for the Whales.
Whales 6, Lions 5
Sunday's 6-5 thriller in favor of the Whales had the Lions taking an early 5-1 lead through the first four frames before the giant aquatic creatures fought back with five unanswered runs to complete the series sweep in dramatic style.
With the bases juiced and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lion ace closer Michael Garcia threw a low-and-away slider that just skidded past rookie catcher Kao Chih-kang to advance the runner on third for the game-winner. The pitch by Garcia was thrown wider than usual because the Lions were trying to avoid a squeeze by the Whales.
Cobras 6, Bulls 4
Osvaldo Martinez's bid to become the best pitcher in league history (101 wins) ran into a roadblock when the Macoto Cobras' designated hitter Cheng Jing-yi smashed a one-run single off the Sinon Bulls' Dominican fireballer to start off a four-run sixth that dealt Martinez his first loss of the season.
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