Jeremy Hill needed no help from his bullpen in claiming his third win of the season, going the distance for the Macoto Cobras in their 3-1 win over the La New Bears at Sinjhuang on Friday night to maintain the Cobras' lead in the standings at two-and-a-half games.
The late-arriving US right-hander -- who made his Taiwan debut late last month and was responsible for all three of the Cobras' wins so far this month -- was brilliant in holding the defending champs to a lone run on five hits while fanning eight and walking one. Other than a solo home run that he yielded to Bears slugger Chen Chin-fong in the top of the fourth, Hill was on top of his game the entire night as he improved to 3-1 for the season with a team-best 2.15 ERA.
The battle between the top two clubs in the league saw the serpents getting on the board in the third with back-to-back RBI doubles by Kao Wei and Wang Chuan-jia off La New starter Randy Leek of the US for a 2-0 lead.
Then came Chen's solo blast, which cut the Cobras lead to 2-1 before they made it 3-1 in the fifth on Lin "Wild Hog" Hong-yuan's run-scoring double.
That was all the runs that either team would score as Hill calmly retired the last 12 Bears hitters in order while Leek and fellow reliever Jiang Bo-ching combined for a scoreless sixth through eighth to make this one official.
Hill's outstanding effort spoiled what was a solid start for Leek, who pitched well in his Taiwan debut but failed to pick up the win due to a lack of run support.
Bulls 3, Elephants 1
Chang Tai-shan hit his third homer in as many games and Iba Tomokazu chipped in eight near-flawless frames to lift the Bulls past the Brother Elephants in a 3-1 triumph in Taichung on Thursday, extending the Bulls' winning streak to four games.
The rain-suspended game of May 18th was resumed from the top of the second inning on Thursday and featured four magnificent innings of shutout ball by both starters, Iba of the visiting Bulls and Nick Bierbrodt for the Elephants, until the Bulls drew first blood in the top of the sixth, courtesy of Tseng Hua-wei's two-out single with men on second and third to put the Bulls ahead by a deuce.
Even though the Elephants would respond quickly with a run of their own in the same inning when Huang Cheng-wei reached on an error, took third on an ensuing single by Chen Huai-shan and scored on Chen Rei-chen's RBI groundout to short, that was as close as the Elephants got.
Then came the Prince's solo shot to lead off the eighth, a homer that iced the game for the victorious Bulls.
With the impressive win, Iba improved to 7-3 for the year, second in the league behind President Lions ace Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen's league-best eight wins.
Pocketing the tough loss for the Elephants was pitching counterpart Bierbrodt, who fell to 1-2 for the season, allowing a pair of runs on one hit over five solid innings of work.
The Elephants did have a couple of great scoring opportunities late in the game with the leadoff man reaching safely on first in both the seventh and eighth.
However, a great Bulls defense turned timely double plays in both innings to deny the Elephants any more runs in the disappointing loss.
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