Kenny Rayborn pitched eight solid innings of one-run ball and Pan Chung-wei went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the La New Bears past the President Lions in a 3-1 road victory at Tainan on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
The American right-hander bounced back nicely from a pair of mediocre starts with a three-hit gem over eight frames to win his league-best 16th game of the season, skidding ahead of fellow teammate Wu Si-yo and Macoto Cobras ace Lin "Little Chick" En-yu's 15 in the race for most wins this year.
Rayborn outpitched Lions staff ace Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen who allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits over seven innings in a classic pitchers' duel, with help from a Bears offense that seemed to come up with just enough runs for their fifth straight triumph that was decided by two runs or less.
The game began with neither offense able to crack the opposing pitchers over three scoreless innings before the Bears scored two runs in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Lin Chih-sheng and a tough run-scoring error by Lions third baseman Tilson Brito for a 2-0 lead.
Brito would quickly redeem himself with a leadoff double off Rayborn in the bottom of the fourth and scored on Chen Lien-hong's chopper to second that was scored an error by the game officials to cut the Bears lead to 2-1.
The score remained at 2-1 through the seventh until La New added an insurance run in the eighth when Pan Chung-wei's clutch single off Lions reliever Lin Yueh-ping with two outs scored the Bears' third run of the game.
That was more than ample as visitors then brought in top closer Ramon Morel to record the final three outs in the ninth to seal the win.
Whales 8, Lions 2
Su Tseh-yi shook off a wild two-run first and went on to pitch 6-2/3 spectacular innings of two-hit ball for the Chinatrust Whales as they tamed the President Lions in an 8-2 win at Tainan on Monday evening to take two of three from the cats in their weekly series.
The makeup game of an earlier rainout had the home cats jumping to a quick 2-0 advantage against Su in the bottom of the first when Kuo Dai-chi's bases-loaded single to right sent home a pair of runners.
But that was all the runs that the Whales staff would allow as Su promptly regrouped and two-hit the Lions well into the seventh before Whales bullpen jumped in with 2-1/3 innings of hitless relief to preserve the victory.
Huang Kwei-yu's bases-clearing pinch-hit double off Lions starter Hansel Izquierdo drove in three of the five runs that the marine mammoths put up in the game-deciding sixth as they overcame a 2-1 deficit to take a 6-2 lead.
Chinatrust rang up two more runs in the top of the ninth to put this one away, upping their road record in the second half to 10-1-5, second only to the Bears' league-best 14-1-4 mark.
Su was credited with his third win of the year to improve to a 4-1 record while Izquierdo fell to a 1-2 mark over a losing effort.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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