Shen Yu-jeh pitched eight brilliant innings of shutout ball and Kao Jung-chiang knocked in a season-high four runs to lead the Chinatrust Whales past the Macoto Cobras in a 6-1 victory in Sinjhuang on Sunday evening.
The third-year lefty tossed his best game of the year by taking a two-hit shutout two outs into the ninth before surrendering a run on back-to-back hits to come up just short of what would have been his first career shutout win.
"He really hit the ball well on that pitch because it was already low and away," Shen said of Wang, whose shot put a runner in scoring position for only the second time in the game.
As for Kao, the second-year first baseman went 3-for-4, including a two-run triple in the fifth, to account for four of his team's six runs on the night.
The contest began with the first of the Whales' Hsu Ren-jeh's three doubles on the night in the bottom of the first. The team scored two batters later on Kao's RBI single for a 1-0 advantage.
Chinatrust doubled their lead in the third, before a three-run fifth made it 5-0 in favor of the Whales.
Chen Jia-hong's one-run double in the eighth made it 6-0 before the Cobras finally got on the board on Lin "Wild Hog" Hong-yuan's RBI single.
Elephants 1, Bears 4
Behind a strong outing from starter Huang Jung-chung, the La New Bears topped the Brother Elephants by a 4-1 margin in Kaohsiung on Sunday evening to sweep the two-game series.
Huang came out of the Bears bullpen in just his fourth start of the year and showed off a blazing fastball that was clocked in the high 140s (kph) to keep the Elephants offense at bay for six scoreless innings. He scattered three singles, walked one and fanned a season-high six.
Huang "Easy" Long-yi scored his eighth career leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to put the Bears ahead 1-0, before Shih Chih-wei scored on Lin Jing-ping's sacrifice fly to right in the second to make it 2-0.
After three uneventful innings, Chen Fong-min drove in the Bears' third run of the game with an RBI single off Elephants starter Joey Dawley before a pitch by the American righty sailed wide with the bases loaded to score the fourth run in the game for the Bears.
Trailing by four with the heart of the order due up in the top of the ninth, the Elephants connected for two singles off the Bears' Gary Rath after a quick out and scored a run on Yang Bo-ren's opposite-field single with the bases loaded and two outs to make it 4-1.
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