The Chinatrust Whales reached an impressive milestone on Saturday when they grabbed their 400th victory with a 4-1 decision over the La New Bears in Tienmu during Chinese Professional Baseball League action.
Reliever extraordinaire Shen Yu-jeh pitched four scoreless innings of three-hit ball in relief of starter Du Chang-wei, who left after the second inning with a stiff shoulder.
Shen picked up his third win of the year.
PHOTO: CHINATRUST WHALES
Offensively for the marine creatures, Cheng Chang-ming, Chen Jien-wei and new arrival Charles Peterson of the US accounted for three of the four runs and a combined 6-for-9.
Manager Hsu Sheng-ming was low-key following the historic win.
"We were simply doing our job," Hsu said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
The win was coincidentally Hsu's 400th career win, dating back to his days with the Weichuan Dragons.
Whales 6, Bears 1
Five fourth-inning runs by the Whales, highlighted by first baseman Chen Wen-pin's towering three-run homer off Bears starter Elvin Nina turned an early 0-1 deficit into an eventual 6-1 win for the Whales as they kicked off the three-game series with a bang in Hsinchuang on Thursday.
Starter Emiliano Giron improved to 5-3 for the season with a magnificent five hitter in seven innings, allowing an unearned run while fanning nine.
Bears 4, Whales 3
Power slugger Victor Rodriguez's run-scoring infield single in the top of the eighth inning capped a three-run spree for the Bears to break open a 1-1 deadlock in Hsinchu on Sunday.
Down 4-1, the Whales made it interesting in the bottom half of the eighth when a defensive error by La New rightfielder Lu Jung-hsiung allowed a pair of Whales runners to score, bringing them to within a run.
That was as close as the Whales would get thanks to a scoreless ninth by Bears closer Lee Fong-hua to nail the 4-3 win. The win helped avoid a clean sweep by the Whales as they head back home to Kaohsiung to prepare for this week's battles.
Starter Wade Travis of the US upped his record to 2-1 for the year with another quality start, yielding three runs (only one earned) over 7-2/3 innings of work with six strikeouts and a walk.
Bulls 5, Elephants 3
Back-to-back wins by the Sinon Bulls gave the defending champs a 2-1 series advantage over the Brother Elephants after the Bulls lost the series opener 4-3 in Taichung on Thursday to start off the week's play.
Lenin Picota of Panama teamed up with Dominican right-hander Geraldo Padua to hold a potent Elephants lineup to just three runs in the Bulls' 5-3 win in Hsinchuang Friday night.
The Elephants went up 3-2 in the sixth inning on catcher Kuo Yi-fong's sacrifice fly before the Bulls answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning on centerfielder Tseng Hua-wei's blooper single off Elephants starter Ichiro Muto to make it 4-3 in favor of the Bulls.
Bulls second baseman Huang "Brother Tong" Chung-yi added an insurance run in the eighth with a line-drive hit to left field resulting in an RBI, making it 5-3.
Picota overcame a shaky two-run first with six straight innings of one-run ball en route to his sixth win of the year, while his counterpart Muto suffered the tough loss to fall below .500 (3-4) for the first time this year.
Bulls 8, Elephants 3
Five early runs over the first three innings set the tone for the Bulls the rest of the way in their 8-3 trouncing of the Elephants on Sunday in Tienmu.
Slumping American righty Harold Woodman (4-3) lost his third consecutive start after beginning the season with a promising 4-0 run.
Shortstop Cheng Jau-han of the Bulls earned his first game-MVP honor of the year with a pair of RBIs on a 2-for-4 night to lead an efficient Bulls attack that produced eight runs on as many hits.
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