Three impeccable innings of relief by Yeh Yong-jeh paced the Brother Elephants past the Sinon Bulls in a 3-1 win at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu on Saturday evening.
The third-year right-hander, who started off the season with a dismal 1-6 record through mid-May, has emerged as one of the most reliable mid-inning relievers for the Elephants as he quietly amassed a 6-1 record from mid-May onward, primarily in a reliever’s role, to even his season mark at 7-7.
What was even more impressive was the fact that Yeh was called on by skipper Wang Guan-hui at short notice to relieve starter Liao Yu-cheng, who left the game after experiencing some discomfort in his waist.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
A wild throw by Elephants shortstop Wang Sheng-wei on a double-play attempt scored the runner from second in the top of the third to give the Bulls a 1-0 advantage.
The lead would last all the way to the seventh as starter Yang Jien-fu cruised through the sixth with minimal trouble, before Wang Sheng-wei redeemed himself by lining a double to the left-center gap in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 1-1, followed by Chen Rei-chan’s pinch-hit two-run single to complete a three-run rally for the Elephants.
Suffering the loss was Yang, who was rattled by a questionable call from the home plate umpire that kept Wang Sheng-wei’s at-bat alive instead of it being the second out of the decisive seventh.
Only one of the three runs charged against Yang was earned.
BEARS 3, WHALES 0
Hsu Wen-hsiung tossed seven shutout innings of three-hit ball to lead the La New Bears to a 3-0 win over the Chinatrust Whales at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Saturday.
The win not only nipped a recent four-game slide for the Bears, but also propelled them to the top of the league standings, with a half-game lead over the second-placed President Lions.
The Bears wasted little time getting to Chu Wei-ming with a pair of runs off the Whales starter in the opening frame, a run-scoring single from Gary Burnham and an RBI ground-out by Shih Chih-wei.
Chung Cheng-yo’s one-run double in the fourth made it 3-0 and that stood until the end as the Whales offense was held to four scattered singles.
Picking up his eighth win of the year was Hsu, whose undefeated streak at Sinjhuang remained intact as he improved to 6-0 at the ground since joining the league in 2003.
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