Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min tied a league mark for most hits in a single game with five to earn the Brother Elephants a 9-3 win over the Sinon Bulls in Taichung on Tuesday.
The crowd favorite and media darling for the Elephants, who leads the league in hitting with a .393 average, and is expected to add to his record-breaking three straight batting titles (2003-2005) with a fourth one this season, showed why he is one of the most feared players at the plate by going a perfect 5-for-5 with two RBIs against Sinon.
The Elephants jumped to quick 6-1 lead with a pair of runs each during the first three frames before tacking on three more in the seventh to put the game away.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Also starring for the Elephants were sluggers Chen Chih-yuan and Chen Rei-chen who collected a pair of base hits each to help their club win its third in a row and sixth in the past seven games.
With the Elephants playing their best ball for a long time, the hunt for the second-half title could go down to the wire as they trail the second-placed Uni-President Lions by a half-game and the top-ranked Bears by a full game in the standings with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Picking up the win for the Elephants was Danny Core with three allowed runs on six hits over five -and-two-thirds innings.
BEARS 5, WHALES 4
Lin Chih-sheng’s walk-off single with two outs and the bases loaded scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth for the La New Bears as they overcame an early three-run deficit to defeat the Chinatrust Whales in a dramatic win in Kaohsiung on Tuesday evening.
The home Bears fell behind early with three quick runs surrendered by starter Hsu Wen-hsiung in the top of the first, but managed to tie the game up at 3-all by the end of the fourth, highlighted by Tseng Hao-jui’s two-run home run off Whales starter Nee Fu-deh.
Chiang Chih-tsong’s one-run single gave the Bears a brief lead in the sixth only to see the marine creatures fight back with a tying run in the seventh to set the stage for Lin’s dramatic finish in the ninth.
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