Putting up double-digit runs for the third time in their past four games, the President Lions stormed past the Brother Elephants in a 15-3 trouncing in Tainan on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to four straight.
The victory not only gave the league-leading Lions a three-game cushion over the second-place La New Bears in the standings, but also made them the first team in league history to record 900 wins.
"This is a historic moment for me and the team," Lions manager Lu Wen-sheng said after the game.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The former Lions second-baseman, who took over the helm midway through the season, is the only man to take part in both the Lions' first win and the record-setting 900th; as a player back in 1990 and as a manager on Thursday night.
The Lions could not have found a better way to celebrate the victory than racking up 15 runs on 20 hits, including a pair of home runs, to get the job done.
Kao Guo-ching's two-run blast capped a four-run first for the home Lions to get the slugfest rolling before Tilson Brito followed with his 30th of the year in the sixth, breaking Luis Iglesias' 1996 record for fastest to reach the 30-homer plateau at 99 games, in only Brito's 87th game of the year.
After taking a quick 7-2 lead over the first two innings, the Lions would go on and score eight more runs with four apiece in the sixth and the eighth en route to the big win, placing five different hitters with multi-hit game outings on the night.
On the mound for the Lions pitching eight strong innings of three-run ball was starter Nelson Figueroa, who won for the second time in as many starts since joining the team last week. Other than a two-run homer that he allowed to the Elephants' Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan in the top of the first, the former major-leaguer was rock solid in keeping the Elephants hitters at bay.
Picking up the loss for the Elephants was starter Yeh Yong-jeh, who allowed five of the sixth hitters he faced to reach via three hits and a pair of walks and was pulled with one out during the bottom of the first.
Whales 5, Bulls 3
The Chinatrust Whales kept their postseason hopes alive with a big 5-3 win over the Sinon Bulls in Taichung on Thursday night behind the solid pitching of starter Chu Wei-ming and a bullpen that held its ground with three scoreless innings of relief.
Wasting little time getting to Sinon starter Iba Tomokazu, the Whales hitters struck first in the bottom of the first inning by connecting for three runs on two doubles, a single and a walk.
They would tack on two more runs in the second off Bulls reliever Yu Wen-pin on Hsu Ren-jeh's RBI double and a sacrifice fly by Wang Yi-min following a wild pitch by Yu that advanced the runner from second to third with one out.
That was more than ample for Chu as he allowed three runs on seven hits over six effective innings to lead it 5-3 before handing the game over to his bullpen to start the seventh.
The lone inning that Chu really had trouble against the Bulls was the fifth in which he served up a two-run homer to the Bulls' Cheng Da-hong with one out.
But the emerging Whales right-hander was able to pitch themselves out of the jam by striking out the next two batters to keep the damage at a minimum before fellow relievers Nee Fu-deh, Du Chang-wei and Kevin Tolar chipped in a scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth to preserve the win.
Earning the win for the Whales was Chu, who continued to adapt nicely in the Whales rotation by winning his fourth straight start after leaving a more familiar role as a reliever out of the bullpen for the most part of the year. He is now 6-1 with an ERA of 3.33 in 26 appearances.
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