Behind an outstanding effort from starter Tsao Chin-hui, the Brother Elephants blanked the Sinon Bulls in a 2-0 decision at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Saturday night to take Game 2 of the three-game weekend series against the Bulls.
The former Major Leaguer who began the season in a Brother uniform after spending five bumpy seasons with three different teams in the majors pitched 7-1/3 shutout innings of five-hit ball before leaving with a cramp in his calves to win his third game of the year.
Equaling the task with 1-2/3 innings of perfect relief was an Elephants bullpen that got a great outing from setup man Matt Perisho to finish the eighth before Lee Hao-ren retired the side in the ninth to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively for the victors, Chu Hong-seng claimed his second straight game-winning RBI with a clutch two-out single in the second that scored the runner from third to give the Elephants a 1-0 lead.
Taking the loss for the struggling Bulls, who have lost five in a row, was starter Alfredo Gonzalez who lasted just one batter into the second and was forced to leave with some discomfort in his throwing hand. He was charged with the loss nonetheless for allowing the Elephants’ the first run in the game.
LIONS 5, BEARS 3
The Uni-President Lions made history on Saturday night by topping the La New Bears in a 5-3 decision to become the first team in the league to collect 1,000 wins.
Slugger Wang Tzu-song got hold of an offering from Bears starter Wu Si-yo and tattooed it over the leftfield wall for his first homer of the season, a three-run shot that capped a four-run second of the home Cats.
That was more than ample for Lions starter Chu Wei-ming, who tossed 5-1/3 innings of two-run ball (only one earned) on four hits before his bullpen came to the rescue with 3-2/3 innings of one-run relief to preserve the fifth win of the year.
Trailing 2-4, the Bears rallied to fall within a run of the Lions in the top of the eighth with Chen Chin-fong’s league-leading 14th homer of the season, a solo shot off Lions reliever Tseng Yi-cheng, which made it 3-4. But that was as close as they got as the Lions answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the same inning to keep the margin at two all the way to the end.
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