Jose Leon's thunderous three-run homer off Bulls closer Kuo Yong-chih turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead in the top of the ninth and the Macoto Cobras held off a fierce Sinon Bulls rally in the bottom of the inning to take the 4-3 win in Sinjhuang on Wednesday evening.
The former major leaguer from Puerto Rico collected his third multi-RBI game in seven chances since joining the Cobras earlier this month to deliver the win that snapped a three-game losing streak.
His addition to the Cobras lineup should make the postseason quite interesting, as it may very well be the shot in the arm that the first-half champs need to remain competitive in the playoffs.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
They have recently not been able to replicate the kind of success they had been known for, with a league-worst 14-26 record during the second half.
The classic pitchers' duel between the Cobras' Andy Van Hekken and Bulls starter Alfredo Gonzalez had the teams battling to a 1-1 draw after the first three innings on Chou Si-chi's second-inning RBI double for the Cobras and a pair of defensive errors by the Cobras defense that led to the Bulls' first run in the bottom of the third.
Lin Tsung-nan's sacrifice fly to right following a leadoff triple by Chen Cheng-wei gave the Bulls their first lead of the game at 2-1 in the fourth, which stood until Leon's game-deciding swing in the top of the ninth.
Trailing 2-4, the Bulls managed to get one of the runs back in the bottom of the ninth on Lin Hsun-wei's two-out single that knocked in the runner from second. But that was as close as they would get as Huang Chin-chih came on and got the next hitter to groundout to short for the final out of the game.
Picking up his 11th win of the year with two-and-two-thirds innings of one-hit relief was Chang Hsien-chih, who gave up an unearned run in the ninth before Huang bailed him out with the tying run by preserving the win in the end with his second save of the season.
Tagged with the loss and a blown save was Bulls closer Kuo, who got two quick outs to start the ninth before running into a world of trouble by giving up a walk and a single before Leon's game-winning homer.
Whales 12, Bears 2
Scoring early and often, the Chinatrust Whales roughed up the La New Bears on the road for a 12-2 win in Kaohsiung on Wednesday night to hand the defending champs their third straight defeat.
The Whales wasted little time finding their groove against a wild Bears starter Andrew Lorraine, who issued four walks on top of a pair of extra-base hits in just two-and-a-third innings with three quick runs that dealt Lorraine his first loss in six starts since joining the Bears early last month.
In came lefty reliever Hsu Yu-wei, who got out of the third without further damage and pitched a scoreless fourth before letting the Whales have their way with a run each in the fifth and sixth to lead it 5-0.
The Bears offense finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth against the stellar pitching of Whales starter Lorenzo Barcelo by loading up the bases to set up Jiang Chih-tsong's sacrifice fly that made it 5-1.
A five-run eighth by the Whales, highlighted by game-MVP Kao Jung-chiang's three-run blast and Chen Jia-hong's two-run shot, blew the game wide open.
Even though the Bears' Huang "Easy" Long-yi would counter with his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot off Whales setup man Du Chang-wei in the bottom of the same inning, it was too little too late as the Bears tacked on two more runs in the ninth to complete the massacre.
Barcelo was credited with his seventh victory of the year for holding a potent Bears lineup to an unearned run on four hits over six outstanding innings to even his season mark at 7-7.
Getting ahead of the hitters on the count was the key to success for the Dominican right-hander, as it allowed him to throw the hard slider that forced the hitter to bite more often than not.
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