Regular-season action resumed in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, with the Brother Elephants splitting the first two games of a four-game series against the Chinatrust Whales earlier this week.
Following the annual All-Star Break at Kaohsiung last weekend and the ongoing investigation regarding charges filed against players and other team personnel for allegedly fixing games played earlier in the season, the Whales kicked off the week with a 5-2 win over the Elephants at Taichung on Tuesday in front of 2,370 lethargic spectators.
Whales starter Emiliano Giron was spotted a quick 4-0 after just two innings on the strength of a three-run second, thanks to run-scoring drives by catcher Shih Jin-sho, outfielder Chi Jung-lin, and shortstop Cheng Chang-ming, all of Elephants righty Nakagomi Sin.
The Elephants answered with a run of their own in the top of the fourth inning on center-fielder Chen Huai-shan's RBI double, before Sin gave it right back in the bottom of the same inning on Whales first baseman Chen Jien-wei's inning-starting solo home run.
Neither club managed to score again following the Elephants' second run of the game in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Chu Hong-seng, as Giron and Sin regained their composure on the mound to pitch effectively until their respective bullpens took over in the late innings.
Pocketing the victory for the Whales was Giron, his ninth of the season, for tossing eight frames of two-run ball, while Sin lost for the fifth time this year in yielding all five of the Whales runs in a losing cause.
Elephants 10, Whales 0
The Elephants returned the favor to the Whales and more on Wednesday with a 10-0 win that featured a multi-homer game by slugger Chen Huai-shan.
It was the second time this season that the red-hot 10-year veteran took an opposing pitcher deep more than once in a contest, with his last multi-homer game taking place on June 28 against the Macoto Cobras.
Chen closed out the night with a 2-for-4 effort and four RBIs to join the four other Elephant players with multiple hits in the game.
Benefiting from double-digit run support, Elephants starter Bronswell Patrick shut out the Whales, allowing six hits in as many innings for his first win since joining the team in mid-July.
Dealt with his fourth setback of the season, Whales starter Kao Jien-san allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings to fall to a 1-4 for the year.
Bulls 8, Lions 8
Four lead changes and a combined nine errors between the two teams marked an exciting seesaw battle between the Sinon Bulls and President Lions in Taichung on Thursday as the two teams eventually played to an 8-all draw.
The visiting Lions took a 3-0 lead after two innings before the Bulls cut the lead down to 3-2 in the third inning and then going ahead 4-3 in the fourth on an RBI ground-out by right fielder Chang Jia-hao.
The lead lasted only one inning after the big cats scored a pair of runs in the fifth to make it 5-4, capped by designated hitter Chen Jia-wei's run-scoring double off Bulls reliever Kuo Yong-chih.
Trailing for the second time in the game, the Bulls rallied for four runs in the seventh to make it 8-5, thanks to shortstop Wang Shih-hua's two-run single, cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's one-run single, and a missed tag at the plate by Lions catcher Kao Chih-kang.
Down but not out, the Lions tied the game with two runs in the ninth on first baseman Guo-ching's run-scoring single, after making it 8-6 in the eighth on second baseman Yang Seng's RBI ground-out.
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