Orlando Roman tossed eight-and-a-third innings of near-flawless ball and Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min batted three-for-five with a pair of RBIs as the Brother Elephants defeated the La New Bears 3-1 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
It was the second win in as many days for the Elephants, evening their record to a modest 2-2 mark in the early going of the second half of the season.
Roman kept the Bears off-balance throughout the contest with good command and velocity on his fastball and a variety of off-speed pitches. Other than an offering to Chen Chin-fong that the Bears slugger smashed out of the park for his fourth homer of the season, the American righty was virtually unhittable in a four-hit gem, while fanning four and walking none.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
“It was a big win for me and the team because we did not quite start off the second half on the right foot,” Roman said after the game, referring to the Elephants’ 0-2 start with a pair of close losses to the Bulls.
Also starring for the victorious Elephants was Chia Chia, who went deep as well with a solo blast off Bears reliever Geng Bo-hsuen in the top of the ninth that added to the Elephants’ slim 2-1 lead and helped secure the win. It was Chia Chia’s second three-hit game of the week, upping his team-best batting average to an outstanding .338.
The Elephants wasted little time getting to starter Luis Villarreal with a quick run off the Texas native on an RBI single by Peng in the top of the first.
The 1-0 lead would stand until the top of the seventh when the Elephants managed their second run of the match on a double down the right-field line by Chang Cheng-wei that made it 2-0.
Chen’s solo shot off Roman in the bottom of the seventh finally got the Bears on the board, but that turned out to be the lone run they would plate as Roman mowed down all but one of the next seven batters he faced, before closer Ryan Cullen grabbed his 15th save of the season.
BULLS 9, LIONS 3
The red-hot Sinon Bulls continued their recent surge with a convincing 9-3 rout of the Uni-President Lions in Tainan last night to remain unbeaten in the second half with a perfect 4-0 record.
The heart of the order — led by Lin Yi-chuan’s three-for-four hitting, with a home run and three RBIs — went a combined seven-for-11 on the night, accounting for seven of the nine runs scored by the first-half champions.
That was more than ample to back up starter Yang Jien-fu, who easily picked up his sixth win of the year. Yang pitched seven innings of one-run ball.
The Bulls face the Lions again today at 5:05pm in Douliu, while the Elephants take on the Bears at the same time in Jhouji.
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