CPBLRunning his winning streak to 10 straight, La New Bears lefty ace Wu Si-yo (10-0) beat the Brother Elephants in a 6-2 decision in Tienmu on Saturday night to help the first-half champions remain undefeated at 2-0 in the second half of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League.
The third-year southpaw joined righty Kenny Rayborn (10-2) of the US as the only two 10-game winners in the league with six magnificent innings of one-run ball on three hits and nine strikeouts against the Elephants, dropping his earned run average (ERA) to 1.72, second only to Rayborn's league-best 1.53 mark.
"Most may consider him [Wu] as a fastball pitcher because he does throw a lot of heat, but what makes him really tough this year is his exceptional control on the breaking stuff that's painting the corners of the strike zone this year," La New catcher Chen Fong-min said about Wu after the game.
The visiting Bears actually found themselves in unfamiliar territory trailing the Elephants 1-0 through the first four innings of play on Brother catcher Chen Rei-chang's two-out single in the bottom of the second that scored the game's first run.
But that was all that the Elephants could muster against Wu as the potent Bears bats awoke in the top of the fifth by plating five runs off Elephants starter Liu Jung-nan, highlighted by cleanup man Chen Chin-fong's two-run double, for a comfortable 5-1 lead.
The Bears would make it 6-1 with outfielder Tseng Hao-jui's RBI double off Brother reliever Wu Jung-yi in the sixth to round out all the scoring for them on the night while the Elephants added a run in the bottom of the seventh via rookie swinger Chen Guan-ren's solo homer off Bears reliever Huang Jung-chung in the eventual 6-2 final.
Liu suffered his ninth loss of the year for allowing La New to have a big inning in the fifth, even though all five runs scored in the inning were unearned due to a costly error by fellow third baseman Chu Hong-seng.
Whales 1 Cobras 9
Thomas Brice's four-RBI effort, including a solo blast in the top of the second off Chinatrust Whales starter Tseng Jau-hao, spotted the Macoto Cobras an early 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish as they pulled away in a 9-1 blowout over the Whales in Hualien late on Saturday afternoon.
The Australian slugger who did not join the Cobras until the middle of last month boosted his RBI total to exactly one dozen [in just 15 games] by going 3-for-5 in his sixth multi-hit game of the year.
He has only been held hitless in two of the 15 contests that he has played thus far, making him one of the most feared hitters in the league as of late.
The first-ever game between the two squads to be played in Hualien had the marine creatures taking a brief 1-0 lead in the opening frame against Macoto staff ace Lin "Little Chick" En-yu when Chi Jung-lin's lining single brought home what ended up being the Whales' only run of the contest.
Down 1-0, Macoto quickly responded with a three-run spurt in the top of the second before they went on to embarrass the Whales in a 16-hit slugfest for an easy victory.
Pocketing his ninth win of the year in a dominant outing was Lin, whose eight masterful innings held the Whales to a lone run on five hits with twelve strikeouts to match his career-best mark in a single game. The Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player winner of last season currently leads the league in strikeouts with 115, a whopping 33 more than the next pitcher in line.
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