Solid outings from a Dominican pitching trio have mounted to a pair of impressive wins for the new-and-improved Chinatrust Whales in their 2005 campaign in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Opening-game starter Emiliano Giron began the week by outpitching the Macoto Cobras' lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh, last season's earned-run-average king, in a 3-1 victory at Hsinchuang on Tuesday.
The righty took the three-run, first-inning lead that his offense had spotted him and made the most of it by holding a Cobras' lineup to one run on four hits with eight strikeouts in seven strong frames.
Lin's fastballs had decent velocity and great locations, making them nearly impossible to hit.
Rookie set-up man Shen Yu-jeh then retired the side in the eighth with three strikeouts, before veteran closer Dario Veras mopped up for the win in his first save of the season.
Newcomer Rafael Garcia followed fellow countryman Giron's opening game win with a two-hit gem of his own in Wednesday's 9-1 decision between the two squads.
The righty out of the Kansas City Royals' farm system baffled the serpent hitters with an assortment of pitches that changed speeds and were always around the strike zone.
Offensively for the Whales, cleanup man Tseng Han-chou breezed through the first two games with five RBIs.
It was his monstrous double in the top of the first that cleared the bases for all three of the Whales' runs on Tuesday, and his two bases-loaded walks that brought home a pair of the Whales' nine runs.
Elephants versus Lions
Game 1 in the series between the Brother Elephants and the President Lions in Hsinchuang on Thursday was a reunion between two old friends, in which Jonathan Hurst of the Elephants took on former Major League teammate Doug Linton in a battle between two foreign aces.
The 5-4 thriller in favor of the Lions gave the 5,000-plus fans on hand more than their money's worth as the Elephants nearly pulled off an amazing comeback.
The visiting Lions quickly jumped to a 3-0 lead against Hurst in the top of the first inning when newly acquired Dominican slugger Israel Alscantara drove a three-run blast over the left-field wall.
The big cats added a pair of runs to their lead in the seventh inning on shortstop Yang Tung-yi's sacrifice fly and left fielder Wang Chuan-jia's line drive over the middle.
Down by five, the Elephants answered with three runs of their own in the eighth on right fielder Peng Cheng-ming's two-run double and left fielder Lee Chih-jeh's sacrifice fly -- both off of Lions' reliever Chen Yang-kai.
The Elephants added another run in the bottom of the ninth to pull within one run when catcher Chen Rei-chang led off the inning with a triple off ace closer Michael Garcia. He then scored on a sacrifice fly in the next play.
Garcia then fanned the next batter and then pinch-hitter Hsu Ming-lan pop out at short to end the game. Linton was credited with the win for his six innings of four-hit, shutout ball, while Hurst took the loss.
Bears versus bulls
Also in action on Thursday were the La New Bears against the Sinon Bulls in the Bears' home opener in Kaohsiung.
The 6-2 Bulls victory should spell a big relief for manager Liu Rong-hua in that his only lefty starter Jeff Andra appears to have overcome a hand injury that nearly cost the southpaw his career last season.
Andra yielded no runs on two hits in five spectacular innings en route to his first win in over nine months.
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