Chou Si-chi (周思齊) nailed a three-run homer and Jim Magrane went the distance with nine brilliant innings of one-run ball as the Brother Elephants went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls 6-1 in Game 4 of the Taiwan Series at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang last night to sweep the annual Fall Classic.
It was the fourth time that a team has swept the best-of-seven championship series and the second sweep for the Elephants, tying them with the Uni-President Lions for a league-best seventh title in 21 years.
“This is what I call a Taiwanese baseball miracle,” Elephants manager Chen Rei-chen (陳瑞振) said after the game.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The rookie skipper accomplished what many would have considered mission impossible by corralling a group of mostly no-namers, 15 of whom were playing in their first ever Taiwan Series, to outmaneuver the heavily-favored Bulls for the win.
His once-controversial decision to forgo ace closer Ryan Cullen (with his record-setting 34 saves during the regular season) in favor of the three foreign starters — Magrane, Carlos Castillo and Orlando Roman — in order to comply with league rules proved brilliant, as the foreign starting trio accounted for all four of the Elephant’s wins in the rain-drenched series that saw the clincher postponed by a record three days.
That meant some extra rest for Magrane as he shook off a one-run first by tossing two-hit ball the rest of the way en route to his second win of the series.
His outstanding effort earned him the unanimous choice as the most valuable player (MVP) of the series.
Back-to-back singles by the Bulls’ Chang Jien-ming (張建銘) and Cheng Da-hong (鄭達鴻) off Magrane set up Lin Yi-chuan’s (林益全) sacrifice fly in the top of the first to give the visiting team a quick 1-0 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, however, as Chou jumped all over a waist-high offering from Bulls starter Juan Pena with two on base for a three-run homer to put his team ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the same inning. The three-run blast won Chou the game MVP honor.
After a scoreless second, the Elephants’ bats would deliver again with a two-out double by Huang Shih-hao (黃仕豪) that scored a pair of runs, this time against Bulls reliever Shoda Itsuki, that made it 5-1.
Even though Huang was tagged out at third to end the inning, trying to stretch a double into a triple, the damage was already done as the lead proved insurmountable for the hapless Bulls.
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