Dragons Secure 5th Straight Win to Hold 1st Place; Guardians Defeat Lions to Stay in Pursuit

TAIPEI, May 20 (CNA) – The Wei Chuan Dragons defeated the TSG Hawks 5-2 today in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), securing their fifth consecutive victory to firmly hold first place in the league. The second-place Fubon Guardians also won, beating the Uni-President 7-ELEVEn Lions 9-2 to continue their pursuit. Dragons' starting pitcher Bryan Woodall delivered a strong performance against the Hawks' lineup, allowing just one run over 6.2 innings. The Dragons' offense rallied in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two runs to take the lead with two hits, a wild pitch, and an error. In the bottom of the fourth, catcher Chiang Shao-Hung extended the lead with a two-run homer, his first of the season and his first-ever at Hualien Baseball Stadium. In the other game, Guardians' starter Abe Yudai set new career highs with 7 innings pitched and 6 strikeouts against the Lions. He gave up only two hits, with the sole run coming from a solo home run by Su Chih-Chieh. The Guardians' offense produced 11 hits, with Wang Yi-Cheng hitting two doubles and driving in three runs, earning him his first-ever single-game MVP award. The Guardians moved into second place on May 15, trailing the Dragons by just one game. Since then, the Dragons have reeled off a five-game winning streak, while the Guardians have gone 3-1, remaining in second. After today's games, the gap between the two teams is 2.5 games. (Editor: Huang Ming-hsi)