Despite the absence of a reliable closer, the Sinon Bulls have won two of their last three contests to quietly retake the top spot in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) standings.
After a late-game collapse last Thursday against the La New Bears which ended in a 6-all tie, the defending champs beat the Bears in Hsinchu on Friday in a 6-4 final behind a decent effort by newly arrived Panamanian starter Lenin Picota.
The right-hander who spent two years with the former Mercury Tigers in the mid-1990s allowed three runs (only one earned) on seven hits in as many innings before the relieving corps closed the deal for Picota's first victory of the season.
PHOTO: CPBL
Offensively for the Bulls, leadoff man Chang Jien-ming's run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh broke a 3-3 tie, before fellow right fielder Chang Jia-hao's two-run double in the same inning made it 6-3 in favor of the Bulls.
Bulls 12, Bears 9
Sunday's series finale in Taichung was a slugfest that featured 31 hits between the two clubs in a 12-9 Bulls win.
PHOTO: CPBL
The game began with the hosts Bulls taking a 3-0 lead after three innings of play before the Bears roared back for five runs in the fourth, highlighted by catcher Chen Fong-ming's three-run homer off Bulls starter Kuo Yung-chich.
A two-run fifth by the Bulls would tie the game up at 5-5 before the Bears struck again for four more runs in the seventh on an RBI double by cleanup man Victor Rodriguez and first baseman Pan Chung-wei's three-run blast off lefty Jeff Andra for a 9-5 Bear lead.
The hosts Bulls would have the last laugh as they buzzed the Bear staff by sending twelve men to bat for seven straight runs in the bottom of the seventh, capped by first baseman Hsu Guo-rong's three-run shot off Bear reliever Lee Fong-hua.
Andra pocketed his fourth win of the season by allowing four runs on six hits in three-and-two-thirds innings of relieve duty. The win tied the American with teammate Osvaldo Martinez and Chinatrust closer Dario Veras for the lead in the league.
After splitting the first two games of the series against the President Lions earlier last week, the Brother Elephants finished off the series in solid form with a pair of wins in Hsinchuang to fall within a game and a few points of the league-leading Bulls in the latest standings.
American righty Harold Woodman pitched his best game of the season by giving up only one run on three hits over seven strong innings before relievers Hsiao Ren-wen and Wang Jing-li tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth respectively, to preserve the 4-1 win.
Woodman outpitched his counterpart Doug Linton of the Lions, who surrendered four runs (two earned) on 10 hits over eight innings for his fourth loss for the year.
Elephants 6, Lions 5
Shaky relief by the Elephant bullpen nearly cost them the win in Saturday's 6-5 contest.
The Elephants took a quick 6-1 lead after just four innings of play behind the big bats of cleanup man Peng "Chia-Chia" Cheng-ming (3-for-5 with an RBI) and Lee "Rambo Junior" Chih-jeh (2-for-4 with two RBIs).
Starter Jonathan Hurst had to leave two outs into the third when he was ejected from the game for hitting the opposing hitters on the head with a pitch. Though deemed unintentional, the rules of the league leave the officials on site no room for interpretation and forced them to eject Hurst, who walked off the field in obvious fury.
Hurst's unexpected early departure led to four straight runs by the Lions off two different Elephant relievers to make it 6-5 before closer Liu Yi-chuang pitched himself out of a two-out-with-two-on jam in the ninth to wrap up the win.
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