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Chen's grand slam lifts Elephants

Chinatrust Whales catcher Shih Chin-shou, right, slides safely into home plate under the tag of Brother Elephants catcher Kuo Yi-feng during Wednesday's game in Sinjhuang. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Chen Guan-ren's grand slam off lefty Shen Yu-jeh in the top of the seventh broke a 4-all tie as the Brother Elephants topped Chinatrust in an 8-5 decision at Sinjhuang on Wednesday night for their third straight win.

Unlike his previous at-bat where Shen managed to sneak in an inside curve that induced Chen to swing and miss badly for an inning-ending strikeout in the fifth, the second-year Elephants slugger was ready for the same curve ball as he deposited it five rows into the rightfield seats for his first career grand slam.

Trailing 8-4 after Chen's tie-breaking blast, the Whales were able to score one more run in the top of the ninth against Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li to cut the deficit to three runs, but that was as close as they would get as Wang finished off the game for his second win of the year. He ended the night with 5-1/3 innings of one-run relief on three hits and four strikeouts.

The contest began with the Elephants putting up four quick runs in the top of the second against Whales starter Lorenzo Barcelo, who issued a base-loaded walk before serving up a two-run single to Chen Huai-shan to fall behind 0-4.

After a scoreless third, the Whales would even things up in a hurry against Elephants starter Nick Bierbrodt in the bottom of the fourth on the strength of three singles and a clutch two-run double by Kuo Dai-chi that made it 4-4.

Neither team would score over the next two frames with Shen and Wang keeping the opposing bats well in check, setting the table for Chen's game-deciding swing in the seventh.

The Whales' loss extended their losing skid to three straight, sinking the once-formidable club that actually held the lead in the standings as recently as two-weeks ago, all the way to fourth.

Elephants 8, Whales 1

Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min made baseball history with his league-leading tenth homer of the season to help the Elephants beach the Whales 8-1 in the series-opener at Sinjhuang on Tuesday evening.

The red-hot free swinger, who celebrated his second straight monthly MVP selection last month by going deep against the Whales' Du Chang-wei with his tenth homer in just 22 games, became the fastest player to reach the ten-homer plateau in a season, topping the previous mark of 23 games, set by former Sinon Bulls great Jay Kirkpatrick in 1998.

The Elephants opened fire on the Whales from the get go with Chia Chia's three-run shot putting them 3-0 up in the top of the first before making it 6-1 by the end of the third, highlighted by Wang Jin-yong's solo dinger off Du to lead off the inning.

Knocking in the lone run for the Whales to avoid an embarrassing shutout was Cheng Chang-ming who slapped a sharp grounder through the left side of the Elephants inside in the bottom of the second.

Earning his first win of the year was Elephants starter Yeh Yong-jeh pitching six solid innings of one-run ball on six hits to beat his counterpart Du.
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