CPBLThe Sinon Bulls made it three straight with a 5-2 win over the Macoto Cobras in Taichung on Wednesday night to remain unbeaten in the second-half action of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League.
At 3-0, the defending champs are the only club without a loss nearly two weeks into the second half of the season with the second-place La New Bears falling to the President Lions in Tainan on Wednesday night in their first setback of the second half.
Wednesday night's contest against Macoto actually had the Cobras striking first in the top of the first when shortstop Kuo Ming-ren drew a leadoff walk and scored two outs later on cleanup man Hsieh "the Ugly" Jia-shien's single up the middle off Sinon starter Jorge Cortez of Panama.
The Cobras' 1-0 lead lasted less than an inning as the Bulls fought back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to claim a 2-1 lead on the strength of outfielder Tseng Hua-wei's one-run single and first baseman Hsu Guo-long's sacrifice fly, both off Macoto's Puerto Rican righty Felix Villegas.
After the Cobras tied things up with a run in the top of the second, the Bulls quickly responded with a run of their own, this time on shortstop Chang "Red Monkey" Jia-hao's opposite-field single that just made it past the left side of the infield grass.
The Bulls would add to their lead by two in the fifth with Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's run-scoring single and veteran infielder Huang Chung-yi's sacrifice fly off Villegas to conclude all the scoring as Cortez and reliever Yu Wen-pin combined for seven strong innings on six hits before closer Kuo Yong-chih wrapped up the win with a scoreless eighth and ninth.
Yu was credited with the win for his four innings of scoreless relief after Cortez was pulled in the fourth due to a sudden injury in his throwing arm.
Taking the loss was Villegas, still searching for that elusive first win of the year. The normal closer for the Cobras did not pitch well in just his second start of the season, allowing all five of the Bulls' runs on 10 hits over six innings.
Lions 6, Bears 4
Luis Ugueto's infield single to short, coupled with an off throw by Bears shortstop Lin Chih-sheng scored the runner all the way from first for the game-winning run, as the Lions broke a 4-4 deadlock with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to win at home (Tainan) by 6-4.
The victory snapped a five-game losing skid for the Lions, who had won a record-breaking 17 in a row during a remarkable first-half run, but have dropped five straight in a recent slump that sank them right to the bottom in the latest standings.
The game began with the visiting Bears greeting the home cats with four quick runs off Lions staff ace Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen on a walk, four singles, and a double in the top of the first.
Trailing by four in a game that seemed ready to turn into another trouncing of the hosts, the Lions were able to regroup in a hurry by plating four runs of their own in the bottom of the second via three walks, a single, a rare triple, and an unusual dead-ball play in which a pitch somehow bounced behind the chest protector of the La New catcher that allowed all runners to advance one extra base.
Spotted an early 4-0 lead by his offense, La New starter Hsu Chih-hua was unable make good of the fast start as he gave back all four runs to the Lions before being pulled just one out into the second in his shortest start of the season.
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