Orlando Roman tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts over nine solid frames and Chou Si-chi homered for the first time this season as the Brother Elephants went on to defeat the Uni-President Lions 5-1 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night for their second win in as many days.
It was the second time that Roman had gone the distance for his team, tying him with fellow teammate Jim Magrane for the league’s lead in complete games.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
As for Chou, a prized acquisition for the Elephants following the dismantling of the former dMedia T-Rex in 2008, it was his third multi-hit outing of late, upping his season average to a respectable .292.
PHOTO: CNA
Marshall McDougal’s liner to left following an error by the Brother defense that placed the runner on second scored the game’s first run in the top of the first.
However, the 1-0 lead proved to be short-lived as the men in the golden uniform quickly answered an inning later when Chen Guan-ren led off the bottom of the second with a single off Lions starter Luther Hackman and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Chen Jiang-ho to knot it up at 1-all.
After a scoreless third and fourth, the Brother offense struck again, this time with Chou’s solo blast over the rightfield fence to trigger what ended up being a three-run fifth.
Chien Fu-chih’s RBI single in the sixth made it 5-1 to conclude all the scoring on the day as Roman buckled down and silenced the Lions’ bats from the second inning on with four scattered singles while Hackman lasted through the seventh before Chen Yi-huan tossed a hitless eighth to call it a night.
Taking the loss was Hackman, who also took a shot in the face on an unexpected throw back from the home plate umpire during a routine ball exchange in the third, but managed to shake it off by continuing through the seventh before being relieved.
BEARS 8, BULLS 4
The La New Bears doubled up on the Sinon Bulls in an 8-4 decision at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium last night, making it two wins in the row against the first-half champs this week.
Lin Chih-sheng’s run-scoring single off Sinon reliever Shen Fu-ren capped a three-run eighth that broke an otherwise narrow 5-4 Bears lead wide open to lift his team past the Bulls in a much needed road victory for the visitors.
Leadoff man Tsan Chih-yao also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs to lead a Bears starting lineup that belted at least one hit on the night off four different Sinon hurlers.
The host Bulls jumped to a quick 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the first off game-winner Ken Ray, but failed to keep it as the Bears scored five of the next six runs in the game for a 5-2 advantage.
Chang Tai-shan’s two-run home run off Ray brought the Bulls to within a run in the sixth, but that was as close as they got as the Bears came up big with a three-run eighth to seal the deal.
Today, the Lions face the Elephants in Tianmu, Taipei, while the Bears take on the Bulls in Hsinchu. Both games begin at 5:05pm.
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