CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Huang "Easy" Long-yi batted three-for-four, including a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, and stole a key base with two outs in the seventh to set up the winning runs to carry the La New Bears past the Macoto Cobras in a 4-3 win in Kaohsiung on Sunday evening.
The veteran outfielder shook off an awful defensive error that led to the Cobras's game-winning run on Saturday and redeemed himself with his 10th three-hit game of the season to help his club salvage a one-game series split against the Cobras over the weekend. He also stole a crucial base with two outs in the seventh that put him in position to score what ended up being the game-winning run for the Bears.
"Being able to help out our club especially after my two-run error from the night before was truly sweet for me," said the easy-going Taipei County native, who got his nickname because of his personality.
It was his drop on a fly ball that scored the winning run for the Cobras in Saturday night's contest.
After Huang's leadoff homer gave the Bears a quick 1-0 lead in the first, the serpents were able to fight back with a run of their own in the fourth on Chou Si-chi's RBI single to knot things up at 1-1.
Neither team managed to produce offensively over the next couple innings until the Bears strung together three base hits in a row, capped by Lin Chih-sheng's two-run homer off Cobras starter Jeremy Hill in the bottom of the seventh to claim a 4-1 advantage at that point.
Even though the Cobras would rally again in the top of the eighth with a pair of runs on Hsieh "the Ugly" Jia-shien's two-run blast off Bears reliever Jiang Bo-ching to make it 4-3, that was as close as they got as Lee Fong-hua retired the final five Cobras hitters in order to earn his second win of the season.
Dealt with his sixth loss of the season was Hill, who pitched well enough for a win by allowing four runs on eight hits in six-and-two-thirds innings of work, but was hurt by the two homers that he served up.
Whales 18, Bulls 4
Scoring early and often, the Chinatrust Whales roughed up the Sinon Bulls in an 18-4 blowout in Taichung on Sunday for a clean sweep of the slumping Bulls, losers of four straight and eight of their last 10.
The 18 runs by the marine creatures tied a club record for most runs scored in a single game while the seven pitchers that Sinon used also tied the league mark for most pitchers used in a contest.
Wasting no time against the Bulls, the Whales put up three first-inning runs on the board on RBI singles by Kao Jung-chiang, Wang Hsin-min and Kuo Dai-yong to take an early 3-0 lead.
Run-scoring drives by the Bulls' Lin Tsung-nan and Tseng Hua-wei in the bottom of the second promptly cut the deficit to a run in a 3-2 game before the Whales erupted for eight more in the third, the highlight being a pair of two-run triples from Wang and Kao to break the game wide open at 11-2.
The Whales would tack on seven more runs over the final two frames against three different hurlers from the Sinon Bullpen while the Bulls scored two meaningless runs en route to their worst loss of the season.
Six Whales batters collected multi-hit games on the night with Kao, Kuo and Carlos Villalobos leading the way with three apiece for ten combined RBIs.
Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's 14th homer of the season was the lone spotlight for the Bulls on a night not much went their way.
Whales starter Shen Yu-jeh was credited with his third win of the year for his six innings of play, allowing three runs on seven hits while fanning four and walking one.
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