Chen Chin-fong's run-scoring triple in the bottom of the third put the La New Bears ahead 3-0 as they held off two late-game surges by the Macoto Cobras to win by a slim 3-2 margin in Kaohsiung on Thursday evening.
Taiwan's first US major leaguer proved his worth by drilling a shot to the right-center gap with two outs and runner on third for what turned out to be the game-winning run to help the Bears stay in contention for the second-half title while extending their winning streak to three straight.
Chen's 2-for-3 night also upped his league-leading batting average to an amazing .381 as he looks to challenge the all-time single season record of .387 set by Jay Kirkpatrick of the 1998 Sinon Bulls.
The highly anticipated pitchers duel between Cobras starter Chang Hsien-chih and his Bears counterpart Andrew Lorraine saw the defending champs taking advantage of a wild Chang in the early going with US slugger Kit Pellow sneaking a double down the third-base line to score the runner from first in the bottom of the first for a quick 1-0 lead.
The Bears attack would strike again two innings later when Pellow knocked in his second run of the game with a groundout to short before Chen's one-run triple made it 3-0 in favor of the home hosts.
Trailing by three, despite having placed runners in scoring position in two of the first three innings against Loraine, the Cobras finally came through offensively in the top of the fourth on Wang Chuan-jia's RBI single and Kao Wei's sacrifice fly to cut the Bears lead to one run.
Unfortunately for the serpents, those two runs in the fourth would be all they could muster off the Bears as Loraine pitched himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth before a relatively quiet sixth and seventh.
The Bears bullpen then strung together two hitless innings of shutout relief with Jiang Bo-ching, Lee Fong-hua and Huang Jung-chung each recording two outs to preserve the win for Loraine.
Picking up his third win in his fourth quality start in seven chances since joining the Bears in early-August, Loraine pitched seven innings of two-run ball on six hits.
Suffering the tough loss for the Cobras was Chang, whose bid for his 12th win of the season fell short.
It was the second straight complete-game loss for Chang, who gave up three runs on six hits over eight solid innings of work.
He has become the most consistent starter on a team that has had trouble keeping its rotation healthy since winning the first-half title in June.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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