Chen Guan-ren’s clutch single in the bottom of the seventh broke a 6-all tie to help the Brother Elephants overcome a three-run deficit and beat the Uni-President Lions 7-6 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu on Saturday night.
The fourth-year slugger from Taipei Physical Education College was sidelined for nearly four months because of an injury on Opening Day, but has been unstoppable since his return midway through last month, with a .333 average and 17 RBIs in the 14 games he played. Chen leads the Elephants in total offensive production over the same period.
The showdown between Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen of the Lions and former major leaguer Tsao Chin-hui of the Elephants was anything but spectacular, as both teams’ offenses had their way early in the game.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
While Du Du quickly settled in and kept the Elephants’ bats in check from the third through the fifth, Tsao was more generous, serving up three more runs over the third and fourth to fall behind 3-5.
The Lions added another run in the fifth off reliever Yeh Yong-jeh to open a 6-3 cushion, prompting skipper Lu Wen-sheng to replace Du Du with Lin Cheng-fong. But the Elephants hitters attacked the Lions reliever with a run in the sixth before rallying for three in the seventh to lead 7-6.
That was all they needed for the win, with setup man Mai Jia-rei retiring the side in order during the eighth and closer Ryan Cullen doing the same in the ninth to pick up his seventh save in nine chances.
Lions reliever Kao Jien-san took the mound during the seventh with the bases loaded and allowed two singles and a walk, blowing the save for his second loss of the of the season.
BULLS 14, BEARS 2
The Sinon Bulls plated 14 runs over the first five innings and went on to defeat the La New Bears 14-2 at the Hsinchu Municipal Baseball Stadium on Saturday evening.
Hsieh “the Ugly” Jia-shien homered twice on a 3-for-4 effort with four RBIs, while Chang “Prince of the Forest” Tai-shan added his seventh blast of the year — also on a three-hit, four-RBI night — to blow the game wide open.
With the offense spotting him a plentiful 6-0 after just two innings of play, Sinon starter Lin Ying-jeh cruised through the fifth in a three-hit gem of his own before turning to his bullpen en route to his first win in nearly four months, improving his record to 3-5 for the year.
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