Huang Kwei-yu's two-run blast in the ninth inning scored the go-ahead run for the Chinatrust Whales as they topped the Macoto Cobras 4-3 in Hsinchu on Saturday for their fourth straight win.
The veteran slugger, who also went deep against the Cobras in the series opener at Sinjhuang on Tuesday, should have been called for the third out of the inning on a popup off Cobras closer Jose Paniagua in foul territory. But instead, the drop by Cobras catcher Wu Jau-hui gave Huang a second chance.
The game began with the marine creatures jumping to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on cleanup man Tseng Han-chou's solo homer off Cobras starter Yang Chi-jia. They then went up 2-0 in the sixth on back-to-back errors by the Cobras infield to score an unearned run off Yang.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHINATRUST WHALES
Down by a pair of runs, the Cobras finally got to Whales starter Du Chang-wei to even things up at 2-all in the bottom of the seventh on just their third hit of the game when Amaury Garcia's double to deep-left brought home Hsieh Jia-shien before Deng Shih-yang's sacrifice fly scored Garcia for the second Cobras run.
After Huang's two-run shot made it 4-2 in favor of the Whales, the Cobras managed to plate one run in the ninth against Whales closer Dario Veras on a pinch-hit ground out by Chen Keh-fang. But that was as close as they got, as Veras preserved the win.
Set-up man Chu Wei-ming got the victory, while the Cobras' Lee Ming-jing took the tough loss.
Four of the five Cobras errors in the game led to three unearned runs for the Whales.
Bears 8, Elephants 4
Over 10,000 fans flocked to the Kaohsiung County Stadium on Saturday to witness the La New Bears down the Brother Elephants 8-4 to clinch the four-game series 3-1.
The hosts got off to a quick start, ringing up two runs against Elephants starter Chuang Hong-liang in the bottom of the first on consecutive RBI-singles by Chen Chin-fong and Todd Betts.
Chen Rei-chang's one-out single with man on second in the fifth got the Elephants on the board for a 2-1 score, only to see the Bears respond with six straight runs to claim a commanding 8-1 lead.
Pan Chung-wei's two-run double with the bases loaded set off a four-run fifth for the Bears before they struck again in the sixth on Betts' run-scoring bouncer up the middle and Pan's RBI grounder to second.
The Elephants scored three times in the eighth, highlighted by Tsai Fong-an's two-run homer off Bears reliever Lee Fong-hua to make it 8-4.
Rookie righty Tsai Ying-fong picked up his second win of the season with five innings of one-run ball (on five hits), beating the Elephants' Chuang, who allowed six runs on nine hits in four-plus frames.
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