Steve Watkins went the distance pitching two-run ball, Kuo Dai-yong batted a perfect 3-for-3, and the Chinatrust Whales humbled the previously red-hot Brother Elephants 5-2 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Wednesday evening.
It was the American right-hander’s first complete-game outing since joining the Whales at the start of the season as he took a 5-0 shutout two outs into the eighth before surrendering a two-run double to the Elephants’ Chu Hong-seng that finally got them on the board.
As for Kuo, who as the unanimous choice for the game-MVP, the 3-for-3 batting also boosted his average to a respectable .296, good enough for third-best on a Whales squad that features two above-.300 hitters in Carlos Villalobos and Wang Hsin-min.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The contest began with the marine creatures wasting little time solving Elephants starter Mai Jia-rei with two singles off the rookie hurler to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
They doubled the lead two innings later when Kuo led off the inning with a standup double and scored one out later on Kao Jung-chiang’s RBI-single to left in a 2-0 game.
Hsu Ren-jeh’s one-run double in the bottom of the fifth made it 3-0 to the Whales before they tacked on two more in the seventh to enjoy a commanding 5-0 advantage.
That was more than ample for Watkins as he scattered three singles through the seventh before allowing a pair of runs on a walk, a single, and a double in the eighth to lose the shutout bid. He ended up with his second win of the season to even his record at 2-2.
Suffering the tough loss on behalf of the Elephants was Mai, who allowed three runs on eight hits over six solid frames in his first quality start in five chances, but fell victim to a lack of run support as his hitters were totally shut down by Watkins.
T-Rex 1 Bulls 1, 12 innnings
The dmedia T-Rex played the Sinon Bulls to a 1-1 tie after 12 innings at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night in a classic pitchers’ duel between the T-Rex’s Chang Hsien-chih and the Bulls’ Yu Wen-pin.
After 11 scoreless innings of play, the visiting T-Rex finally broke through with a go-ahead run in the top of the twelfth on an RBI-double by Chen Keh-fan off Bulls reliever Lin Chi-wei for a 1-0 lead.
But the diehard Bulls answered in the bottom of the same inning on Cheng Jau-han’s pinch-hit single with two outs to score the tying run from second.
Neither club left the game as winners as the league rule places a 12-inning cap on the games in the interest of protecting players from a demanding schedule that typically incorporates four games per week.
Chang was voted the game-MVP for his nine masterful innings of shutout ball on four hits and five strikeouts.
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