Clutch hitting on the part of the Brother Elephants, coupled with two devastating errors by the La New Bears defense, lifted the Elephants past the Bears in a 3-1 win at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night, giving the Elephants a clean sweep in the weekend series against their archrivals from Kaohsiung.
Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s two-out single after a fielding error by the Bears shortstop that allowed the runner to reach second put the Elephants ahead 1-0 in the top of the first, while an erroneous throw by the Bears second baseman scored the Elephants’ second run of the game in the third.
That was more than enough to give the men in the golden uniforms the win as starter Carlos Castillo cruised through to the eighth inning with a lone allowed run on six hits to improve to 7-2 for the year.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“It was a big win for us because it meant a clean sweep,” Elephants coach Chen Rei-chen said after the game.
Chen is in the process of guiding the Elephants back to prominence after the game-fixing scandal prior to the season that nearly dismantled his team.
Failure to come up with the timely hits ultimately cost the Bears the win as they batted a dismal one-for-10 with runners in scoring position, including two double-plays, in a game in which they outhit the Elephants by a 7-5 margin.
Tagged with the tough loss despite having gone seven strong innings was Bears starter Ken Ray, who gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits as he fell back to an even 4-4 record for the season.
Lions 4, Bulls 3
Miscues by the defense also played a key role in the contest between the Sinon Bulls and the Uni-President Lions at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium last night in a come-from-behind win in extra innings for the Cats.
Shortstop Yang Dong-yi’s high throw to first with the bases loaded and two outs was off target, allowing the runner on third to score the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th in a dramatic finish for the Lions.
The play capped a two-run rally for the Lions after they had allowed a go-ahead to the Bulls in the top of the 10th on a fly-ball to shallow-left by Hsu Guo-long that was ruled a single to break a 2-2 tie.
The victory not only nipped a two-game slide for the Cats, but also avoided what would have been a three-game sweep at the hands of the first-half champions, who came into the game with a perfect 4-0 in the second half of the season.
Picking up the win was Lion closer Lin Yueh-ping, who did not look sharp at all with an earned run charged against him on two hits in the top of the 10th, while the loss went to the Bulls’ Micheal Tejera, who failed to preserve the win as he allowed a lead-off single to start the Lions’ 10th and surrendered the tying run on a walk before the eventual loss.
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