Eighty-seven pitches. That was all it took for Macoto Cobras ace Lin "Little Chick" En-yu to record his second win of the season at Hsinchu on Friday in a one-hit, 7-0 shutout over the Sinon Bulls.
The MVP from last season demonstrated total dominance over the Bulls lineup by allowing a lone triple to Tseng Hua-wei in the top of the second.
"It's one thing to throw as many complete-game shutouts as he did last season [four], but this one -- people will be talking about it for a long time," Cobras catcher Wu Jau-hui said after the game.
As for Lin, who turned 25 yesterday, the game was an early birthday present, but he didn't let his performance go to his head.
"All the credit should go the defense that was playing behind me tonight because it really bailed me out a few times," Lin said.
The game began with the Cobras loading up the bases twice in the top of the first against Bulls starter Yang Jien-fu, who allowed a two-run double to deep-left and a one-run single up the middle to quickly fall behind 3-0.
The Cobras rang up a pair of runs against Yang in the sixth -- this time on a run-scoring double to shortstop Kuo Ming-ren and a hard-hit single by center fielder Hsieh Jia-shien to make it 5-0.
Designated hitter Chiou Chang-rong's sacrifice fly made it 6-0 in the seventh before the serpents topped off the night with another run from left fielder Wang Chuang-jia's sharp single to right in the eighth.
Four different Cobras hitters had multi-hit games for the night, highlighted by three-hit outings from Garcia and Kuo.
The former was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle, while the latter pounded out two clean doubles off the Bulls staff.
Yang was tagged for the loss, giving the Bulls opening-day starter two losses in as many starts for the season.
Elephants 6, Whales 5
Four ninth-inning runs by the Chinatrust Whales nearly turned the tables on the Brother Elephants as they edged past the marine creatures 6-5 in Sinjhuang.
What had been a comfortable 6-1 lead for the Elephants after eight innings turned into a one-run game when reliever Blas Cedeno surrendered a pinch-hit double to the Whales' Chen Jien-wei for the first of four Whales runs, followed by back-to-back infield singles and a fielder's choice to make it 6-5.
It took a spectacular snag by Cedeno on a comebacker from the Whales' Cheng Chang-ming and the ensuing tag at first to complete an unassisted double play that ended the Whales rally just one run short.
The late-inning drama nearly cost Elephants starter Brian Rodaway the win, whose Taiwan pitching debut was accompanied by 11 strikeouts over eight solid innings. The American southpaw allowed one run on six hits to beat the Whales' Steve Smyth for his first win of the season.
Offensively for the Elephants, the heart of the order, consisting of Chen "Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan, Chen Guan-ren and Tsai Fong-an, picked up the bulk of the scoring slack by going for a combined 4-for-11 with three RBIs.
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