The struggling Uni-President Lions showed signs of a resurgence with a convincing 4-0 win over the Sinon Bulls at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night for their second win in as many days.
It was only the second time in six weeks that the first-half champs have won two in a row, putting a big smile on skipper Lu Wen-sheng’s face. His Big Cats had lost five straight and 12 of their past 13 over a horrendous stretch prior to Friday night’s win against the Bulls.
“We really needed this one,” Lu said after the game.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
His club have already clinched a postseason berth with their first-half title, but are four games behind the top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys in the second half for the best overall record, which would earn them a first-round bye in the playoffs and an automatic spot in the Taiwan Series.
Starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen tossed four innings of shutout ball giving up two hits and seemed well on his way for his first win since early May after an injury had sideline him for more than four months. However, Du Du has to wait at least another game for that elusive victory as he was pulled with two outs into the fifth because of an arm injury that put him one out short of the minimum five innings required for starters to qualify for a win.
While the seriousness on Pan’s injury remained uncertain, the Lions were able to get a splendid effort from Chen Yung-chi, who went a perfect 3 for 3 with a pair of RBIs. It was Chen’s best outing at the plate since returning from a knee injury in May that sidelined him for three months.
The Lions also got a great relief appearance from Wang Jing-ming, who picked up the win on 1-1/3 innings of perfect relief by retiring all four of the batters he faced for his 10th win of the season.
ELEPHANTS 6, MONKEYS 0
Teeing off against the opposing pitching for 18 hits, the Brother Elephants overwhelmed the Lamigo Monkeys in a shutout to even the weekend series at one win apiece.
The win also avenged a 5-0 blanking by the Monkeys the night before for the men in the golden uniform as they cut the Monkeys’ second-half lead to a single game with six games remaining in the season.
Starter Cheng Chi-hong improved to 9-2 for the year with six innings of shutout ball, while Bryan Corey was charged with the loss.
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