As unpredictable as the weather that has rained out two games and shortened another during this week's Chinese Professional Baseball League action in Taiwan, the top spot in the standings has become a status that no team has managed to keep.
Three different teams have either grabbed or shared the first-place honor over the past seven days as the top four clubs remain within a game of each other.
The Macoto Cobras (12 wins, 1 tie, 15 losses) and the La New Bears (7 wins, 2 ties, 17 losses) are the only cellar-dwellers.
Lions 10 Bulls 7
Tuesday's series opener between the President Lions and the Sinon Bulls in Taichung remained scoreless until the top of the fifth inning when shortstop Yang Dong-yi's two-run double and cleanup man Israel Alcantara's two-run blast to center gave the Lions a 4-0 lead.
In the sixth, the Bulls knocked in a half-dozen runs, sending 11 batters to the plate to ring up two doubles and three singles, along with three walks against the three different Lions pitchers.
The Bulls added another run in the seventh to make it 7-4 before the Lions rallied in the eighth with six unanswered runs to win 10-7 in the slugfest.
Lions righty Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen earned his fourth victory of the year for 2-2/3 innings of one-run relief, while his counterpart Ho Chi-shien suffered the loss after blowing the save opportunity that cost Bulls starter Osvalso Martinez his league-leading seventh win of the season.
Bulls 4, Lions 1
Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's 4-for-4 night at the plate with an RBI stole the show from fellow pitcher Lenin Picota as the Bulls evened the series at 1-1 with Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Lions in Chiayi.
The Panamanian native scattered six hits in seven shutout innings for his fourth win in five starts, providing the defending champs the strong starting pitching that had been sparse at best.
He also had the full support of an infield that turned a double play in three straight innings to keep the Lions from reaching second base.
Alcantara's league-best 11th homer, a solo shot off Ho, was the lone bright spot for a Lions offense that produced only one run on nine hits.
Cobras 6, Bears 3
The Macoto Cobras beat the La New Bears 6-3 in Kaohsiung on Friday behind power hitter Hsieh Jia-shien's three-double night that landed him the game-MVP honor.
Hsieh got the serpents on the board in the top of the first with a line-drive double to center field. He struck again with another two-bagger to start off the third inning. It was his third double of the game that started a three-run eighth which gave the Cobras a 6-0 lead.
The Bears fought back with three ninth-inning runs in the loss.
The Colorado Rockies placed Taiwanese closer Chin-hui Tsao on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation on Friday.
Tsao started the season on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation and was reinstated on April 12. The right-hander appeared in 10 games, going 1-0 with a 6.55 ERA and three saves.
Tsao had trouble with his shoulder against Atlanta on Wednesday, when he allowed three runs in the ninth inning for his first blown save. He ended up getting the win after Colorado scored two runs in the bottom of the inning.
"Tsao threw in the outfield today and we don't see any sense if there is any discomfort to crank him up and throw tomorrow," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We'll sit him down for 15 days and get him on a straightening program and get him through this."
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