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CPBL: Pan snares record, pitches Lions past Elephants in Tainan

"The early lead that the offense spotted me really made it easier for me."

Pan Wei-lun, President Lions pitcher

Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen set a new Chinese Professional Baseball League record for consecutive victories by pitching the President Lions to a 3-0 shutout over the Brother Elephants in Tainan on Friday for his 15th straight win.

The Lions staff ace continued to rack up the wins for his club despite suffering from a shoulder injury that had limited him to no more than six innings per start since the middle of May.

Pan pitched the minimum five innings required to qualify as a starter for a win while the Lions offense did its part by scoring a run for him en route to the victory.

"The early lead that the offense spotted me really made it easier for me, especially against a good team like the Elephants," Du Du said after the game, giving credit to his offense and the Elephants.

Had the offense not scored, he probably would have had to settle for a no-decision on the night.

Pan's 15th straight win was not the only thing that gave fans of the home Lions something to cheer about as long-ball threat Tilson Brito also hit hit a solo home run that gave Du Du the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

With his 31st blast of the year, Brito not only tied the league record for most home runs in a single season -- set by Luis Iglesias of the former Mercury Tigers in 1996 and the Elephants' Jay Kirkpatrick in 1998 -- but also became the fastest to hit 31 homers by doing it in his 88th game of the season.

After Brito's blast put the Lions ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first, neither offense was able to score over the next four innings against the pitching of Pan and Elephants starter Wu Bao-shien.

The Lions finally struck again in the sixth with a pair of runs off Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li on back-to-back RBI singles by Liu Fu-hao and Kao Chih-kang.

Following Pan's usual five innings, the Lions bullpen took over with four combined innings of scoreless relief by five different hurlers to keep the shutout intact.

When Lin Yueh-ping trotted to the mound from the Lions bullpen to start the ninth, the game reached its climax because the third-year right-hander -- who underwent an open-heart surgery in May to repair an aneurism -- pulled off an amazing comeback by finishing the usual nine month rehabilitation ahead of schedule in just more than four months.

Lin managed to strike out the only batter he faced before Lions closer Tsao Jung-yang retired the final two Elephants hitters to cap off an impressive win.

Pocketing the loss for the visiting Elephants was Wu, who pitched well enough for a win with four innings of one-run ball on three hits.
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