Tsai Tsong-yo’s two-out single with the bases loaded drove in the go-ahead runs in the top of the 12th as the La New Bears outlasted the Sinon Bulls 5-3 in a four-hour marathon at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Friday, ending a two-game slide.
Lin Chih-ping led off the inning with a single up the middle off Sinon reliever Shen Fu-ren, but was held at first as Shen struck out the next two batters and seemed well on his way to getting out of trouble.
Lin Chih-sheng, however, drew a walk off Shen to place runners on first and second before a wild pitch by Shen advanced the runner to third. The Bulls intentionally walked slugger Chen Chin-fong to load the bases, setting the stage for Tsai’s game-winning hit.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG
Three consecutive base hits, all after two outs, plated three runs in the top of the third to spot Bears starter Aaron Rakers a quick 3-0 lead against Sinon’s Yu Wen-bin.
An error by a covering Rakers on what would have been an inning-ending out in the fourth, however, allowed two runs. The score remained 3-2 until the bottom of the eighth, when Chang Tai-shan managed to hit a sacrifice-fly off Keng Bo-hsuen to tie the game up at 3-3.
The Bulls had a chance in the 11th when two batters were able to reach first safely via a single and a walk, but both were gunned down by Bears catcher Chen Fong-min at second on steal attempts.
Hsu Ming-jeh was credited with the win for tossing two-and-a-third innings of scoreless relief to beat his counterpart Shen, even though he gave up a pair of hits and walks in the process.
Elephants 3, Lions 0
Kobayashi Ryokan pitched six innings of shutout and Wang Sheng-wei drove in a run on a 1-for-3 effort as the Brother Elephants blanked the Uni-President Lions 3-0 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday night.
The Japanese righty — who allowed a runner on in all but one of the six innings he pitched — was able to get out of trouble with several clutch strikeouts and nice plays by his defense. Setup man Matt Perisho and closer Ryan Cullen then combined for three scoreless innings.
The Lions made it interesting in the top of the ninth when Yang Dong-yi and Liu Yu-cheng singled off Cullen with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate, but the pitcher calmly struck out the next batter to pick up his 20th save of the year.
CPBL
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