Print

Mail

wiki links

Lin's home runs lead Bears over Cobras

Lin Chih-sheng homered twice and Gary Rath pitched deep into the eighth inning to pace the La New Bears to a 4-3 win over the Macoto Cobras in Sinjhuang on Saturday night to salvage a split in the two-game set between the two squads.

The Bears shortstop -- who also knocked in the winning run for Taiwan to take home the gold medal in last year's Asian Games in Doha -- went deep twice off Cobras starter Hsu Chu-jien, including a solo blast leading off the top of the second and a two-run shot in the fourth.

Lin accounted for three of the four runs the Bears scored.

"I just hit them on the sweet spot of the bat, that's all," Lin joked after the game, flashing the big smile that made him famous in Doha last year.

Also doing his part off the mound was Bears starter Rath, who threw six scoreless innings of three-hit ball before giving up a pair of runs in the seventh on three singles and a walk and another run in the eighth.

Rath survived the dicey ending of the game to record his eighth victory of the season.

After Lin's homers put the Bears on top 3-0 in the fourth, it was Shih Chih-wei that batted in the Bears' fourth run in the fifth that ended up being the difference in the game.

The Cobras would rally for two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to cut a once-comfortable four-run lead to just a run.

With runners at the corners threatening to even things up late in the game, Bears reliever Tsai Ying-fong promptly retired the final Cobras hitters in order to preserve the thrilling win.

Suffering the loss was Hsu, who fell to an even 2-2 record after five total innings of work while allowing all four of the Bears' runs on six hits.

Bulls 5, Lions 2

Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan hit his fourth homer in as many games in front of a Taitung crowd on Saturday evening to lead the Sinon Bulls past the President Lions 5-2.

The victory not only extended the Bulls' winning streak to five games, but also kept them in contention for the first-half title.

They trail the league-leading Cobras by one-and-a-half games with eight contests remaining in the first half.

Also starring for the Bulls was Japanese left-hander Kurita Yusuke, who joined the Bulls in the middle of last month.

Yusuke pitched five-and-a-third innings of two-run ball on the way to notching his third win of the season.

Four quick runs by the Bulls in the first two innings, including the Prince's two-run shot in the opening frame, quickly gave Sinon a 4-0 lead against the struggling cats.

The Lions finally made it on the board in the fifth against Kurita's pitching thanks to Chen Lien-hong's solo homer to lead off the inning before Kao Chih-han followed with his third round-tripper of the year to make it 4-2 in favor of the Bulls.

They would tack on an insurance run two innings later in the bottom of the seventh to lead 5-2 and that was how the game ended.

Lions starter Wayne Franklin was tagged with the loss for serving up the four early runs by the Bulls in just one-and-two-thirds innings of play.

He was greatly affected by first baseman Kao Guo-ching's error in the top of the first that led to two unearned runs.
This story has been viewed 1045 times.