Wu Jau-hui's 4-for-7 batting with a home run and six RBIs propelled the Macoto Cobras to a pair of wins over the Sinon Bulls in Sunday's doubleheader at Tianmu.
The former President Lions catcher who was released by the Lions during the offseason was immediately picked up by the Cobras and is making the most of a second chance with his new club.
"The best way to repay this organization [Macoto] is to give it all I got every day ... I'm grateful for having another opportunity to play in the league," Wu said earlier.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CPBL
It was Wu's towering three-run blast off Bulls starter Alfredo Gonzalez in the bottom of the sixth that gave the serpents a comfortable 7-2 lead, a lead that they would keep en route to a 7-4 victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader.
The game began with the Bulls striking first in the top of the first when Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan knocked in Chang Jien-ming, who had doubled to leadoff the game, for a quick 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth the Cobras erupted for four runs on second baseman Deng Shih-yang's two-run double and RBI singles from Wu and first baseman Chuang Jing-heh.
Chang then knocked in another run with a clean double off Cobras starter Yang Chi-jia to make it 4-2 in favor of the Cobras in the sixth before Wu's three-run homer put the game out of reach for good.
Yang was credited with the win for allowing two runs on seven hits in as many innings for the Cobras while his counterpart Gonzalez took the loss for surrendering all seven of the Cobras runs in seven innings of work.
Cobras 4, Bulls 2
As with the day game on Sunday, Game 2 of the doubleheader had the Bulls roaring in the top of the first with Chang Tai-shan bringing home Chang Jien-ming on a base hit off Cobras starter Hsu Chu-jien for a 1-0 Sinon advantage.
But unlike the day game in which it took the Cobras until the fourth inning to respond, the equalizer came in the bottom of the second, courtesy of Wu's double that scored designated hitter Chiou Chang-rong.
The Cobras went ahead in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs when Wu batted in another run with a single and scored two plays later on a base hit by fellow teammate Kuo Ming-ren.
The Bulls scored a run in the top of the seventh to make it 3-2, only to give up the lead the same inning.
Hsu earned his first win of the season after six innings of one-run ball (on six hits), while his counterpart Du Yin-jeh was dealt his first loss of the year.
Bears 8, Lions 3
The La New Bears won their first series of the year 3-1 against the Lions with an impressive 8-3 victory in the series finale at Kaohsiung on Sunday.
After dropping the series opener 4-1 early last week, the hosts were able to win the next three games.
New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (
Wang was hit by Curtis Granderson's hard one-hop liner with one out in the inning. He walked gingerly around the mound before being taken out of the game.
The Taiwanese right-hander underwent X-rays at a local hospital, which were negative.
"Everything was normal, so that's good," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "One thing you don't want to mess with now, even though there's nothing that's going to be long term here, you don't want him favoring something and wind up hurting his arm. So, you're just going to have to see how long it takes."
Wang is competing with Jaret Wright and Shawn Chacon for two rotation spots behind opening day starter Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina. He allowed two runs and three hits in 2 1-3 innings. New York plans on using four starters during the first couple weeks of the season because of off days.
Torre doesn't know if Wang will make his next exhibition start Friday at Arizona.
"The next 48 hours will probably tell us more than anything else," Torre said.
Wang hasn't ruled out pitching against the Diamondbacks.
"Not too bad," he said of his kneecap.
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