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CPBL 20: Sinon Bulls charge to surprise win

Hsu Guo-long’s base-clearing three-run double set the stage for a six-run ninth as the Sinon Bulls overcame a four-run deficit late in the game to top the Brother Elephants 6-4 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Thursday night.

Down by four runs heading into the top of the ninth with Brother starter Mike Smith on top of his game in a one-hit shutout bid, the Bulls managed to plate their first run of the contest when Chen Chih-wei led off the inning with a double, scoring later on an RBI single by Chang Tai-shan.

Smith walked the ensuing hitter Hsieh Jia-shien, cutting the American righty’s night short. The Bulls jumped all over reliever Mai Jia-rei by pounding the second-year hurler with another RBI single before drawing a walk to load up the bases for Hsu’s game-turning swing.

The late-inning collapse negated what had been an outstanding performance by Smith, who cruised through the eighth in one-hit beauty before Mai squandered away what would have been Smith’s eighth win of the year by blowing a two-run lead with two outs in the ninth.

Picking up the surprise win was Sinon reliever Tsai Ming-jin who threw 2-1/3 hitless innings in relief of starter Yang Jien-fu for his second victory of the year, while the loss went to Mai who failed to convert a save ­opportunity for the second straight game.

Lions 10, Bears 5

The Uni-President Lions doubled up the La New Bears with an impressive 10-5 road win at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium on Thursday to keep their second-half title hopes alive as they trailed the top-ranked Elephants by 4-1/2 games with eight games remaining in the second half of the season.

Having won the first-half title, the defending champs would enjoy a first-round bye as well as an automatic one-game lead in the upcoming Taiwan Series if they surpass the Elephants to win the second half outright.

They definitely played with the intent to run the table on Thursday by erupting for five runs in the third on the strength of five singles, a double and an error by the La New defense to grab an early 5-1 lead.

The cats would double their offensive output by the sixth with four more runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth by teeing off against Bears reliever Chang Chih-jia on five consecutive singles to chase the veteran right-hander before roughing up his replacement Hsu Wen-hsiung over the next two innings.

Down 1-10, the home Bears would score the next four runs to make the score more respectable.

Lions starter Luther Hackman would have easily picked up his fourth win of the year had he not gotten ejected by the home plate umpire for arguing a call. The win went to reliever Tsai Shih-chin.
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