Tsai Chung-nan pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit ball to lead the Sinon Bulls past the Macoto Cobras in an 8-3 win at Taichung on Tuesday night, handing the previously undefeated serpents (with a 10-0-1 record prior to Tuesday) their first loss of the second half of the season.
In his best outing of the year by far, the former first-round draft pick for the defending champs kept the potent Cobras offense at bay with a combination of fastballs and nasty splitters, retiring the first six hitters he faced in a row.
With Tsai holding his ground through the first five innings, the Bulls offense was able to overcome a slow start by collecting three runs off Cobras starter Yang Chi-jia in the fifth on three straight hits and a costly throwing error by third baseman Wilton Veras for a 3-0 lead.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SINON BULLS
Veteran slugger Huang "Brother Tung" Chung-yi's two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth made it 5-0 in favor of the Bulls before the Cobras finally answered with a two-run seventh against Bulls reliever Clinton Hosford to break up the shutout bid.
Determined to make good on the win, the Bulls countered the serpents' two-run seventh with three runs of their own in the eighth to put the game out of reach, avenging the tough loss between the two clubs in the one-game playoff that crowned the Cobras as the first-half champs on July 21.
Tsai, the unanimous choice for the game-MVP honor, remained unbeaten (2-0) against the Cobras in four career starts (six games in total) as he picked up the win, while Yang lost for the first time this year in a rare starting role.
Cobras 3, Bears 3
It took eleven innings on Wednesday night at Hsinchu before the two teams reached the 3-1/2-hour time limit for a regular-season contest, which ended in a 3-all draw.
The Bulls actually drew first blood by plating the first run of the game in the top of the third on third baseman Chen Tsung-fu's RBI liner off Macoto starter Chen Chih-cheng, before the Cobras scored three times in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Deng Shih-yang and centerfielder Ko Jien-fong's two-run clutch single to shallow-center off Sinon righty Kuo Yong-chih to take a 3-1 lead.
Chen would surrender another run in the fifth on a groundout by Bulls second baseman Chang Jia-hao before leaving after the fifth with a 3-2 lead.
Cobras setup man Lee Ming-jing pitched two solid innings of one-hit relief before yielding a game-tying run to Sinon cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan in the eighth on a well-hit ball to the opposite field at which Chang slapped.
Neither team was able to cross the plate again in the extra innings, ending the match between the top two teams in the league in a deadlock.
Upcoming Games
The Bulls and Cobras will finish out their four-game series with two contests scheduled for Luodong tonight and tomorrow afternoon in two great matchups between Sinon ace Lenin Picota and Cobras righty Hsu Chu-jien and between the Bulls' Osvaldo Martinez and the Cobras lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh.
The Brother Elephants will pay a visit to the La New Bears in three southern cities this week with last night's series opener at Pingtung and tonight's game at Kaohsiung, before heading for Chiayi to conclude the three-game series on Sunday.
Last but not least, the President Lions will host the Chinatrust Whales in a three-game homestand at Tainan that could reshuffle the standings come next Monday if the Whales can get at least two quality starts out of starters Wascar Serrano and Shen Yu-jeh to climb out of the cellar in the latest standings.
The series is set to kick off with last night's scheduled Game 1 before the two squads will meet again with tomorrow and Sunday's matches.
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