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Underdogs fight back to beat Cobras, Bears

Chang Tai-shan of the Sinon Bulls looks on after belting a two-run homer off President Lions starter Pan Wei-luen to become the league's all-time RBI leader with 684 -- and counting. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SINON BULLS

Two underdog teams enjoyed tremendous success earlier this week, with the Chinatrust Whales taking the first two games of the four-game series against the Macoto Cobras and the Brother Elephants beating the league-leading Bears in their series opener on Tuesday.

The previously 2-1-5 Whales beat the Cobras in a 6-1 decision at Sinjhuang on Tuesday night, where seven strong innings of quality start earned starter Steve Smyth his first win of the year.

The American right-hander allowed no runs on three scattered singles to the Cobras hitters and had a 6-0 shutout going until fellow reliever Luo jien-ming surrendered a run to Macoto in the bottom of the ninth.

Offensively for the Whales, third-baseman Chen Jia-hong's 3-for-3 night with an RBI on a rare triple led the way for the league's previously least potent lineup.

Outfielder Huang Kwei-yu also smacked a solo homer off Macoto starter Fernando Hernandez for his second round-tripper of the year.

Hernandez fell to 0-2 for the season with the loss, allowing a run in each of the first three innings on a total of six hits before being pulled one out into the fourth.

Whales 10, Cobras 8

Nine seventh-inning runs by the Whales attack helped overcome an early 3-0 deficit en route to a 10-8 victory in Game 2 of the series at Sinjhuang on Wednesday night.

The Whales batted around the order against Macoto starter Lin "Little Chick" En-yu for seven of the nine runs in the error-filled decisive seventh, before baffling reliever Lee Ming-jin for two more runs before all was said and done. All but one of the seven runs allowed by Lin, the Cobras staff ace, was earned, as the rest of the runs were direct results from the several miscues that the Macoto defense committed.

Down 9-3, the Cobras responded right away with a four runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh when cleanup man Hsieh Jia-shien got a hold of a pitch from Whales set-up man Chu Wei-ming and deposited it into the right field seats for a grand slam.

The Whales would add an insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it 10-7 before the Cobras fought back with a run on a pair of hits and a walk to start off the bottom of the ninth.

It took a spectacular snag by the Whales' Chen on pinch-hitter Chen Keh-fang's hard-hit liner to third that prevented at least two runs from scoring before the Whales finally secured the win on Deng Shih-yang's fly out to shallow-left.

Chu was credited with the win despite allowing the grand slam to Hsieh, while Lin was tagged with the loss in a game that he could have won had the Cobras defense not made so many devastating mistakes.

Elephants 8, Bears 6

Wang Jin-yong's three-run blast off La New Bears reliever Liang Rue-hao rallied the Brother Elephants from a 5-6 deficit in the top of the seventh for the eventual 8-6 win in Kaohsiung on Tuesday night, dealing the league-leaders their first back-to-back losses of the year.

Todd Betts' two-run double off Brother reliever Hsiao Ren-wen sparked a five-run sixth that helped the Bears reclaim a 6-5 advantage after six innings of hard-fought battle, only to see Wang turned the tide once more for the men in the golden uniform.

Tempers also flared throughout the contest with two batters being nailed by pitches that seemed too wild to be thrown by a professional athlete, resulting in the ejection of Elephants starter Yofu Tetsu.

Third-year set-up man Chuang Pei-chuan earned his first win of the season for his near-two innings of relief, as closer Blas Cedeno finished off the Bears with two scoreless innings for his second save in three opportunities.

Lions 4, Bulls 3

Huang Gang-lin's game-winning single off Sinon Bulls closer Yu Wen-pin propelled the President Lions to a wild 4-3 finish in Wednesday's game at Hsinchu.

The Lions victory spoiled what would have been an even more memorable night for the Bulls' Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan whose two-run shot to dead-center off Lions starter Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen in the top of the first gave the ten-year veteran slugger 684 career RBIs for the league's all-time record, surpassing former Lions great Luo Ming-ching's old mark of 682. Luo is currently the Lions' hitting coach.

Sinon starter Clint Weibl pitched effectively after a shaky first, allowing only one more run in the second five hits over eight strong innings in yet another quality start.

As for Pan, the former Rookie of the Year winner outpitched Weibl with nine innings of three-run ball to become the league's first three-game winner.

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