Print

Mail

wiki links

CPBL: Whales rally to edge past T-Rex

President Lions runner Liu Fu-hao is tagged out in his attempt to slide home by Sinon Bulls catcher Yeh Chun-chang in Tainan on Tuesday. PHOTO: HUANG CHI-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES

Huang Cheng-chi’s RBI groundout off Lee Ming-jin capped a three-run seventh as the Chinatrust Whales overcame a two-run deficit to edge past the dmedia T-Rex 6-5 at the Chiayi City Baseball Stadium on Tuesday night.

The speedy rookie outfielder, usually known for his ability to track down fly balls on defense, was able to put the ball in play with runners at the corners to give his team a rare lead that it would keep to the end.

The seesaw battle featured four lead changes and saw the home T-Rex strike first in the bottom of the third when Napoleon Calzado singled home the runners on second and third off Whales starter Steve Watkins to go ahead 2-0.

The lead lasted less than an inning as the Whales fought back in the top of the fourth with three runs of their own to claim a 3-2 lead with back-to-back RBI-doubles by Tseng Jia-shien and Wang Hsin-min and a blooper single to right by Hsu Ren-jeh that scored the Whales’ third run of the game.

Returning the favor on the part of the T-Rex were Kuo Ming-ren and Wang Chuan-jia, whose respective two-run liner to the left-center gap and an RBI-single to right quickly handed the lead back to the T-Rex in a 5-3 contest.

Neither team would score over the next couple of innings, with dmedia starter Chang Hsien-chih working a quick fifth and fellow bullpen mate Michael Christopher pitching a scoreless sixth, while the Whales’ Liu Yu-chan scattered two harmless singles over the fifth and sixth before the Whales rallied in the game-turning seventh.

The stellar relief effort by Liu was by far the story of the game, even though it was the Whales bats that scored the winning runs — it was Liu who cooled off the dmedia bats just in time to get the momentum back to give his offense a chance to win it.

The Whales reliever was credited with his first win of the season, nearly four years from his last “W” as a series of nagging injuries had limited the veteran right-hander to less than 90 total innings over the past three seasons.

“I knew it [the win] would come, as long as I keep doing what I am supposed to do,” Liu said as he received the game-MVP honor after the game.

Tagged with the loss for the T-Rex was Christopher, who served up the game-winner in the seventh for his second setback of the year.

Bulls 8, Lions 5

Four sixth-inning runs by the Sinon Bulls broke a 3-all tie and the Bulls went on to top the President Lions by an 8-5 margin in Tainan on Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing skid.

Trailing 0-3, the Bulls evened things up in a hurry with three runs in the fifth, highlighted by Yu Hsien-ming’s two-run single off Lions starter Chang Chih-chiang. But that was not all. They teed off against the Lions starter with two more base hits that chased Chang and picked up where they left off by ringing up three hits off reliever Lin Cheng-fong to blow the game open at 7-3.

Even though the Lions would put up two more runs in the seventh to make it 7-5 on RBI singles from Yang Song-hsuen and Liu Fu-hao, that was as close as they got as the Bulls tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth to conclude the scoring in an 8-5 victory.

Picking up the win for the Bulls was starter Yu Wen-pin, who threw six-and-two-thirdinnings of five-run ball (three earned) on as many hits for his second win of the year.

Suffering the loss for the home Lions was Chang, who fell to 1-2 for the season with five decent innings of play. He allowed six runs (just two earned) on seven hits.
This story has been viewed 558 times.