Nicholas Ungs tossed six effective innings of shutout ball in his Taiwan debut and Chen Chih-hong knocked in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of fourth to pace the Brother Elephants to a 2-0 blanking of the Macoto Cobras in Sinjhuang on Monday night.
The American right-hander out of the University of Northern Iowa spent the past six seasons in the Florida Marlins minor league system and was signed by the Elephants last week. He scattered a base hit in every inning he pitched, but was able to get out of trouble each time before teammates Wang Jing-li and Todd Moser combined for three innings of scoreless relief to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively, the Elephants took advantage of a pair of walks issued by Cobras starter Andy Van Hekken and a run-scoring error by the Cobras defense in the fourth and scored what turned out to be the winning runs.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Cobras the game as they stranded nine on a night where they actually outhit the Elephants by a 9-7 margin.
It has been a rollercoaster ride for the Cobras and skipper Wu Fu-lien this season, who have gone from a first-half title to dead last in the standings in the second half with a dismal 15-28 record.
Pocketing the loss was Van Hekken, who fell to 1-3 for the year despite turning in his first complete game with two allowed runs (one earned) on five hits.
Bears 6, Bulls 2
The La New Bears kept their playoff hopes alive with a 6-2 win over the Sinon Bulls in Kaohsiung on Monday afternoon thanks to a pair of homeruns by leadoff man Huang "Easy" Long-yi and a sudden downpour in the bottom of the fifth that reduced the game to the minimum five innings.
The veteran outfielder single-handedly put the Bears ahead 3-0 over the first two innings with a leadoff blast off Bulls starter Lee Guo-ching in the bottom of the first before making it two in a row with a second-inning shot that scored the Bears' second and third runs of the game.
The Bears tacked on another run in the third, when Chen Chin-fong also went deep against Lee with his 26th round-tripper of the year to make it 4-0 before rounding out the scoring with a two-run fourth.
Trailing 0-6 after the fourth, the Bulls finally showed some signs of life in the fifth on Yu Hsien-ming's one-run single off Hsu Wen-hsiung with the bases loaded before a throwing error by the Bears defense led to their second run in a 6-2 game.
DOUBLE: Harry Kane has now netted 12 goals in six games, scoring his second hat-trick this season after Bayern’s opening Bundesliga match against Leipzig last month That man again. Harry Kane scored his second hat-trick of the season on Saturday to steer Bayern Munich to a 4-1 win at Hoffenheim for the best Bundesliga start any team has made after four rounds. The England captain scored before the break and converted two penalties after it to take his club tally to 12 goals in six games across all competitions — 13 goals in seven games including the German Supercup. Kane’s other hat-trick was in the Bundesliga-opening 6-0 rout of Leipzig. Bayern’s record of 12 points with a goal difference of 15-plus is the best after four rounds of the Bundesliga
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