On the brink of elimination, the Sinon Bulls made sure that there would be at least one more game in the 2003 Taiwan Series with a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Brother Elephants in Kaohsiung on Thursday night.
It was the second game in a row that the Bulls would stage a late-game rally, only this time, the Bulls had the last laugh.
The game began with the Elephants taking a three-run lead. Center fielder Chen Chih-yuan (
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Elephants first baseman Tsai Fong-an (
Laying all his cards on the table in what could be the final game of the season, Bulls skipper Chen Wei-cheng (
The 3-0 Elephants lead would remain until the bottom of the fourth, when Bulls third baseman Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) knocked in leadoff man Tseng Hua-wei (曾華偉) all the way from first with a standup double off Elephant starter Nakagomi Sin to make it 3-1.
With Chang on second, the next batter, Cheng Jau-han (鄭兆行), lined a clean single to left for what appeared to be the Bulls' second run of the game with Cheng advancing to second on the throw.
A controversial call by first base umpire Su Chien-wen (
The tense exchange between Chen and Su led to Chen's ejection, after he threw his cap, and then a punch, at Su.
Chen's ejection seemed to fire up his troops, with the Elephants scoring only once more, in the fifth, setting the stage for the dramatic comeback.
After back-to-back singles by Tseng Hua-wei and designated hitter Chen Tsung-fu (陳宗甫), Chang Tai-shan struck again in the bottom of the sixth with another one-out single off Sin to make it 4-2.
The Bulls' rally continued in the eighth, as the heart of the order came through again with two more runs to tie the game at 4-4.
Chang Tai-shan drew a walk off Elephant reliever Yokota Hisanori, after Yokota had started the inning with two quick outs.
Not rattled by his base-running error earlier, Cheng Jau-han slapped a breaking ball from Yokota to shallow-left for a one-run triple and was brought home by first baseman Chueh Shu-mu's (
Instead of collecting his first strikeout of the game, Yokota's third-strike splitter skipped past catcher Chen Rei-chang (陳瑞昌) to allow leadoff hitter Yeh Jung-chang (葉君璋) to reach first. Pinch runner Chang Jia-hao (張家浩) was safe at second on a sacrifice bunt by right fielder Kao Chien-lung (高建龍) to set up Tseng's game-winner.
With Chang Jia-hao on second, Tseng's liner was just a hair higher than the fully-extended reach of shortstop Chen Rei-cheng (
"I am sure people will be talking about this one for a long time," renowned baseball analyst Tseng Wen-cheng (
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