Homers filled the sky on Saturday evening as the Uni-President Lions went deep against the Brother Elephants, pitching with three dingers on the night to capture a 7-1 win at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu.
After a Lions defensive error on what should have been an inning-ending out scored the Elephants’ first run of the game in the bottom of the first, it was all the Lions as Kuo Jung-yo sparked a seven-run rally with a solo blast in the fourth that promptly tied things up at 1-1, before Enrico Washington and Chuang Jing-heh followed with a three-run shot each in the fifth and sixth respectively to give their team a commanding lead.
Taking the mound in his second start of the season was Lions starter Christopher Gissel of the US who allowed an unearned run in a one-hit gem with five strikeouts over as many innings to beat his counterpart Tseng Jia-min, who served up six runs on six hits, including two of the three homers in a losing cause.
The win marked Lions skipper Lu Wen-sheng’s 100th, making him the fastest local manager to reach the 100-win plateau as he beat out the previous record of 174 games by reaching the mark in only his 156th contest.
BULLS 4, BEARS 0
The Sinon Bulls continued their stellar start with a convincing shutout win over the La New Bears in Taichung on Saturday to grab sole possession of the lead in the standings.
After a disappointing season-opening loss to the Bears on the road last Sunday, the new improved Bulls have rolled up four straight wins thanks to the solid hitting of Lin Yi-chuen, Cheng Jau-han, and Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan, as well as the stingy pitching of starters Lin Ying-jeh, Lin Keh-chien, and Shoda Itsuki.
Saturday’s contest began with the home Bulls plating a run in the opening inning on Lin Yi-chuen’s RBI-single off Bears starter Chang Chih-jia for a quick 1-0 lead.
After three scoreless frames, the Bulls offense would roar again with three more runs in the fifth, this time on the strength of a rare two-run triple by Chang Jien-ming and Deng Shih-yang’s run-scoring single.
Yesterday’s CPBL results:
• Elephants 6, Lions 3
• Bulls 3, Bears 1
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