Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min's walk-off double with a runner on first scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth as the Brother Elephants rallied from two down to edge past the Sinon Bulls 3-2 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu on Saturday night.
The always-smiling slugger, who has been a fan favorite since joining the league in 2001, brought a crowd of nearly 4,000 to its feet with a clutch swing that delivered the game-winner after the Elephants had struck for two in the seventh to battle back from a 0-2 deficit.
The battle between two of the most popular squads in the league saw the visiting Bulls striking first in the top of the third on a solo blast by Cheng Jau-han and an RBI-double by Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan off Elephants starter Liao Yu-cheng.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
That would be all the runs that either team would score through the top of the seventh, with Liao and Whales starter Shen Fu-ren dominating the opposing hitters, until the Elephants finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of unearned runs because of two costly errors by the Bulls defense.
The two gift-wrapped runs by the Bulls not only tied the game, but also breathed new life back into the Elephants offense.
Picking up the win for the men in the golden uniforms was reliever Yeh Yong-jeh, who pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth for his fourth win of the year.
The Bulls’ Yang Jien-fu was hit with the loss.
Bears 3, Whales 1
Miscues by the Whales on a would-be, inning-ending double play in the bottom of the sixth cost the Whales the game as they fell to the La New Bears at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium to extend their losing skid to five straight.
The morale-killing play came after the Whales had tied the game up at 1-1 with Abraham Nunez’s RBI-single in the top of the sixth, as a wild throw by the Whales catcher, on what would have been an inning-ending double play, scored the runner all the way from second to help the Bears reclaim a 2-1 lead.
The Bears they followed that with an insurance run in the eighth en route to a 3-1 victory.
Bears starter Hsu Yu-wei earned his first win of the season with six-and-a-third innings of solid work, allowing the lone Whales run on four hits to help his club sweep the two-game set.
As for the Whales, unlucky starter Du Chang-wei was charged with the loss, despite pitching six brilliant innings of two-run ball (only one earned) in a four-hitter to remain winless at 0-4 for the year.
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