CPBL: Bulls and Whales secure victories, but just barely

Ivanon Coffei of dmedia T-Rex, left, walks off the field with a leg injury during Friday's match against the Chinatrust Whales in Hsinchu. T-Rex won 9-8. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES

Both CPBL games on Friday night were close affairs, with the Sinon Bulls holding off a tenacious dmedia T-Rex rally to escape with a 9-8 win in Hsinchu and the Chinatrust Whales edging past the Brother Elephants 7-6 in Sinjhuang.

Chen Chih-wei's grand slam off T-Rex starter Lin Jing-min capped a five-run first for the Bulls before the T-Rex got three runs back with a run in the second on Lin "Wild Hog" Hong-yuan's RBI-single and two runs in the third to make it 5-3.

Three-straight base hits by the Bulls in the bottom of the third produced their sixth run of the game, before Chen made it 8-3 with an opposite-field double for his fifth and sixth runs of the game.

The Bulls tacked on a run later in the inning to lead 9-3 before the T-Rex rallied in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs that cut the deficit to 9-5.

But although the Bulls sent top closer Kuo Yong-chih to the mound at the start of the ninth to secure what should have been an easy victory, dmedia mustered one final offensive.

Chou Si-chi drew a leadoff walk off Kuo, Deng Shih-yang tattooed a pitch from him on the ensuing at-bat for a two-run shot that brought the visitors to within a deuce and Chen Tsung-hong quickly followed with another run on an RBI-groundout off the Bulls' Lin Chi-wei to make it a one-run game at 9-8.

That was as close as the T-Rex got though, as Lin regrouped and recorded the final two outs of the game to preserve the win.

Sinon starter Yang Jien-fun was credited with the win for allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits over five-and-two-third innings of work, despite the late-game drama that nearly took the win away from him.

Lin Jing-min was tagged with the loss for allowing all nine of the Bulls' runs over the first three innings, even though only three of them were earned.

Whales 7, Elephants 6

The Chinatrust Whales remain undefeated after holding off a fierce Brother Elephants comeback to win 7-6 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday.

It is the first time that the Whales have begun a season with three-straight wins. Their potent offense has averaged six runs per game thanks to stellar outings from infielders Chen Jia-hong and Kang Tseh-wei (with eight total hits and four RBIs between them).

Friday night's contest saw the Whales striking first in the bottom of the first, when Lin Yong-kuen led off the game with a clean double and scored on Kang's RBI single up the middle off Elephants starter Kobayashi Ryokan of Japan to give the Whales an early 1-0 lead.

The lead lasted less than an inning as the Elephants answered with a run of their own on Chen Rei-chang's solo homer in the top of the second to tie the game up.

The Whales struck for three more runs over the next two frames to make it 4-1, before the Elephants forced the third tie of the game with a three-run fourth on the strength of a run-scoring double by Huang Cheng-wei, a wild pitch by Whales starter Chu Wei-ming and a sacrifice-fly by Chen Rei-cheng.

The Whales enjoyed a three-run fifth on three consecutive base hits that chased Kobayashi at 7-4, before a resilient Elephants rang up a run each in the sixth and seventh to make it a one-run game.

That was as close as the Elephants got.