Powered by a ten-run fourth, the President Lions demolished the Macoto Cobras in a 14-0 shutout in Game 2 of the Playoff Series in Sinjhuang on Saturday night to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
With the Cobras having revenge on their mind following Friday's 9-4 loss and Lions starter Pete Munro pitching on a three-day rest, many had thought Round 2 would belong to the home Cobras.
And for the first three innings, it seemed as if the Cobras would finally give the Lions a run in a scoreless tie behind a decent outing by starter Hsu Chu-jien.
Even though Hsu had walked four and gave up a pair of hits after three innings of play, he was able to pitch out of trouble when it mattered the most by getting a double play from his defense and collecting key outs to strand four over the same span.
But against the top-rated offense that scored 620 runs during the regular season, Hsu's luck finally ran out in the fourth when he issued back-to-back walks before the Lions got to him with consecutive run-scoring singles by Kuo Dai-chi and Shih Jin-dien to chase him.
In came reliever Carlos Castillo who issued two more walks without getting a single out before serving up Tilson Brito's grand slam to give the Lions a commanding 7-0 lead at that point.
The Cobras' third pitcher in the inning Lee Ming-jin was no match for the Lions hitters either as they tacked on three more runs to conclude the ten-run massacre that set a new postseason record for most runs in the a single inning.
While the Lions offense wrapped up the game by sending 14 to the plate in the fourth, Munro was in full control of his game as he scattered four singles over seven strong frames to silence his critics who had questioned his readiness after being roughed up by the La New Bears on Tuesday and having to pitch Saturday's game on three-day rest.
In addition to setting a new single-inning scoring record in the game, the Lions also set a new mark for most hits and runs in a postseason contest with 14 apiece.
Brito put himself in contention for most games with at least one homer and most RBIs in a postseason series with two and six respectively, one shy of former Lions slugger Scott Samuels' three games (with at least one homer) and seven RBIs in 1999.
Six different Lions hitters had multi-hit games with Brito driving in four RBIs and three others knocking in two each.
Taking the loss for the Cobras was Hsu whose return from a layoff with an arm injury might have been premature as he allowed four runs on as many hits in 3 and a third innings of play to lose his second straight postseason start (dating back to last year).
France’s Kevin Aymoz snatched the men’s title at Skate America on Saturday, winning his first grand prix title with a battling free skate, while short program leader Kazuki Tomono faltered. It was an emotional triumph for Aymoz, who made his grand prix level debut in 2017, with seven prior podium finishes, but no gold. He had struggled with a painful foot injury since a disappointing 10th-place finish at Skate Canada last month. “It was so difficult,” the 28-year-old said. “After Skate Canada I wanted to give up so much and today I’m here and it’s so beautiful to be with my friends competing
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