Taking advantage of a strong performance from starter Mickey Callaway, the Uni-President Lions baffled the La New Bears in a 5-0 shutout at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Sunday, winning their three-game series 2-1.
The American righty — who played in the Majors and Korea’s KBO for several seasons before joining the Lions at the start of this season — allowed only three hits while fanning six in six-and-a-third innings before his bullpen took over with flawless relief.
It was a particularly sweet win for the Lions not only because it helped them clinch the series, but because it nipped Bears slugger Lin Chih-sheng’s five-game homer streak, keeping Lin from tying the Lions’ Pan Wu-hsiung’s six-game streak record for a Taiwanese player (the league mark is seven, set by former Lions great Tilson Brito).
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Sunday’s contest saw the home Cats jumping all over Bears starter Wu Si-yo in the early going, with three quick runs on a pair of singles and three deadly walks in the second. A balk by Wu with runners at the corners in the fourth scored the Lions’ fourth run of the game.
Huang Kan-lin’s RBI-single off Bears reliever Tsai Ying-fong in the fifth concluded the scoring for the Lions and that was more than ample for Callaway and the Lions bullpen as they kept the Bears offense in check all day.
BULLS 8, ELEPHANTS 6
The Sinon Bulls continued their dominance over the Brother Elephants with an 8-6 win in Kaohsiung on Sunday to sweep the three-game series.
Hsieh “the Ugly” Jian-shien’s three-run homer capped a seven-run second that saw the Bulls send 10 men to the plate as they enjoyed a surprising 7-0 lead against Elephants ace Liao “the Golden Submarine” Yu-cheng.
Even though the Elephants offense got five of the seven runs back in the top of the fourth by batting around the order against Bulls starter Yang Jien-fu and got the go-ahead run on with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, that was as close as they got as the Bulls bullpen held its ground to preserve the second win of the year for Yang.
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