Tempers flared in the contest between the Brother Elephants and the La New Bears in Kaohsiung on Friday.
Four Bears players were ejected from the game that ended in a 5-5 draw for charging the first-base and home plate umpire on two different occasions.
Lin Chih-sheng was the first to lose his cool during the bottom of the ninth after he and a teammate were both called out by the first-base umpire on two very close plays that ended with Lin being tossed out of the game.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Play resumed after the ejection of Lin and went into extra innings until Bears skipper Hong Yi-chung charged the home plate umpire after a questionable called third strike that ended the inning with a runner in scoring position.
Huang Jung-chung, Pan Chung-wei and Chen Fong-min followed suit and were ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The game started with the home Bears taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, a lead they held until the top of the sixth when Chen Rei-cheng’s sacrifice-fly to right made it 2-1.
La New tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the same inning on Tseng Hao-jui’s two-run single with two outs to make it 4-1 only to see the Elephants counter with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh by Huang Cheng-wei and Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min.
After the Bears added their fifth run of the game to open a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Elephants struck again with a run-scoring double by Chen “Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan before a wild pitch by Bears closer Suzuki Makoto scored the tying run from third to send the game into extra innings.
Whales 13, T-Rex 12
Homers lit up the Sinjhuang sky on Friday night in a high-scoring affair as T-Rex held off a tenacious ninth-inning rally to prevail in a 13-12 decision.
Hitters from both teams teed off against the opposing pitchers with five combined homers on the night; two by the Whales’ Carlos Villalobos and a grand slam by fellow slugger Lu Jung-hsiung. T-Rex’s Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien and Chen Yuan-jia also went deep.
The Whales wasted little time adjusting to T-Rex starter Lai Jung-nan as they scored two runs in the top of the first against the rookie lefty on Villalobos’ two-run shot.
The T-Rex hitters then went to work against Whales starter Shen Yu-jeh who lasted less than an inning with nine runs allowed on six hits and a pair of walks.
Leading 9-2, T-Rex added to their lead in the fourth when Napoleon Calzado doubled off Whales reliever Liu Yu-chan and advanced to third on a wild pitcher before scoring on Wang Chuan-jia’s sacrifice fly two batters later.
The seemingly commanding 10-2 lead was anything but as the Whales scored six runs in the top of the fifth to pull within a deuce of T-Rex in a 10-8 ball game.
They twice reduced the deficit to a run but dmedia hung on.
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