Homers by Tsan Chih-yao and Lin Hung-yun were the difference in the game as the La New Bears tripped up the Sinon Bulls 6-3 at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to sweep the three-game weekend series.
It was Tsan’s first career dinger, a two-run blast off Sinon starter Chang Keng-hao in the top of the third that got the visitors on the board and Lin’s two-run shot in the fourth put the Bears ahead for good in the big win against the first-half champions.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“I got a pitch that I was able to drive against and the next thing I knew I was rounding the bases,” an excited Tsan said after the game.
The second-year outfielder out of the National Taiwan College of Physical Education has steadily established a growing fan base with his outstanding play, not to mention a killer smile that makes him an instant crowd favorite.
Also starring was La New starter Luis Villarreal, who allowed an unearned run on four hits over six strong innings for his fourth victory of the year.
The American southpaw has not allowed more than a run in his last two starts since coming out of the bullpen for skipper Tsai Rong-tsung.
Trailing 1-6, the Bulls made a serious comeback attempt by loading up the bases in the seventh inning against Bears reliever Hsu Ming-jeh, but managed to score only a pair of runs after Hsu was relieved by Tseng Jau-hao.
That was as close as they got as Tseng worked a perfect eighth, before closer Keng Bo-hsuan retired the final three batters in order to preserve the win for Villarreal.
Taking the loss was Chang, who allowed all six of the Bears’ runs on as many hits over five innings for his fourth defeat of the year. He is now 4-4 for the season with an ERA of 3.94.
ELEPHANTS 10, LIONS 4
Also sweeping their weekend series against the Uni-President Lions were the Brother Elephants, who roughed up their nemeses from Tainan at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night for share of the lead in the standings with the Sinon Bulls.
The rapid-firing Elephants lineup showed little mercy against Wang Jing-ming by stringing together five runs on as many hits, including a home run and a pair of doubles, over two-plus innings to knock out the Uni-President Lions starter.
Even though the Lions bullpen would slow down the Elephants by holding them scoreless from the fourth through the sixth to make it a 5-1 game, reliever Pan Jung-rong’s luck finally ran out when he surrendered five runs in the seventh to lose the match long before the final out.
Five different Elephants batters had multi-hit games, led by Chen Jiang-ho’s perfect three-for-three outing, while Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min and Wang Sheng-wei drove in a pair of runs each with two hits apiece.
Picking up his eighth win of the year was Brother Elephants starter Carlos Castillo, who tossed seven innings of one-run ball to beat his counterpart Wang Jing-ming, who dropped to the 5-2 mark after his worst outing of the season.
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