Homering for the third straight game, Lin Chih-sheng used his big bat to lead the La New Bears past the top-ranked Sinon Bulls 6-2 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Wednesday to start the week’s play with a bang.
The red-hot slugger, who also belted a double in the game to pick up his third straight and fifth multi-hit outing of the year, drove in a pair of runs to push his league-best RBI total to 14 in the dozen contests so far.
“I guess I am just seeing the ball a lot better these days,” Lin said after the game, trying to explain his magnificent start.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Also starring for hosts the Bears were outfielder Tseng Hao-jiu and hired gun American Nate Gold who both went deep against the Sinon pitching to account for four combined RBIs on the night.
The contest began with the Bears striking first in the bottom of the second on Tseng’s solo blast off Sinon starter Yu Wen-pin, before Lin’s solo shot in the fourth made it 2-0 in their favor.
Chang “Price of the Forest” Tai-shan’s run-scoring ground-out followed by Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien’s one-run single promptly tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the sixth. However, the hosts hit back with a run of their own in the bottom of the same inning, courtesy of Lin’s RBI double to give his team a 3-2 advantage.
That was as close as the Bulls got, with starter Aaron Rakers keeping the damage to a minimum two outs into the seventh and fellow teammates Huang Chin-chih and Jermaine Van Buren combining for two-and-a-third innings of perfect relief to preserve the third win of the season for Rakers.
Taking the loss on behalf of the Bulls was Yu, who pitched five-and-a-third innings of four-hit ball, but fell victim to a pair of homers to lose for the first time this year.
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