Chen Huai-shan’s walk-off single with some crafty base-running by Chen “the Golden Warrior” from second scored the game-winning run for the Brother Elephants in the bottom of the ninth as they outmaneuvered the Sinon Bulls to win in a 10-9 decision at Taichung on Saturday night.
The veteran switch-hitter who has contributed steadily on both sides of the ball over the year came through once again by legging out an infield single while the Golden Warrior surprised the Sinon defense by charging the home plate in the midst some confusion on the part of the Bulls to produce the game-winner for the Elephants.
“Anything is possible on a baseball field, as long as you are willing to push it to the edge on every chance you get,” the Golden Warrior said after the game while celebrating the dramatic win with his teammates.
The Bulls needed little time to adjust to Elephants starter Liao Yu-cheng as they dialed up eight quick runs off the submariner over the first three innings. Cheng Da-hong’s RBI-groundout got things moving in the right direction for the Bulls in the top of the first before they teed off against Liao with a five-run second that featured three consecutive run-scoring doubles.
Chen Huai-shan’s groundout to short with a man on third got the Elephants on the board in the bottom of the second only to see the Bulls tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the third to lead it 8-1.
After the Elephants put up two more runs in the third to make it 3-8, the hitters suddenly lost their groove as the pitchers dominated the next three innings until the Elephants erupted for six runs in the seventh to actually take a 9-8 lead midway through the seventh.
The Bulls would eventually tie the game up at 9-all in the top of the ninth when reliever Tseng Jia-min served up a walk and a single to set up Chen Chih-wei’s game-tying groundout to short.
Fortunately for Tseng, his offense would scrape up one more run in the bottom of the inning to convert a blown save for the rookie righty into his first “W” of the year.
Taking the disheartening loss for the Bulls was Tseng’s counterpart Lin Chi-wei who fell victim to gutsy base-running.
Bears 6, Whales 0
The La New Bears bounced back nicely from a tough loss to the Lions on Thursday with a dominating 6-0 shutout win over the Chinatrust Whales in Tienmu for their sixth win in the past eight games.
Bears starter Hsu Wen-hsiung made sure his bullpen would not squander another good start by taking a three-hit shutout one out into the eighth before handing off to fellow reliever Hsu Chih-hua.
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