Orlando Roman threw nine innings of three-run ball and Chen Guan-ren went three-for-four with an RBI as the Brother Elephants produced just enough runs to top the Sinon Bulls 4-3 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only avenged a tough loss to the Bulls the night before, but also nipped a five-game losing skid for the defending champions as they look to finish the weekend on the up in their three-game series against the Bulls.
Trailing 3-4, the Bulls had a chance to rally with the tying run 90 feet from the plate and the go-ahead run on the board in the bottom of the ninth against Roman, after the Brother starter had gotten two quick outs to start off the inning.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
However, Cheng Da-hong’s lazy fly to left gave the Elephants defender just enough time to get under it to end any hope the Bulls had, giving the men in the golden uniforms a thrilling victory.
“This one was too close for comfort,” Elephants manager Chen Rei-chen said after the game.
His players were actually outhit by a Sinon lineup by a 10-8 margin in a game that the Elephants could easily have lost if it had not been for the solid defensive play of right-fielder Chang Chih-hao, who gunned down an attempt at a tying run at the third in the top of the eighth to deny the Bulls a golden scoring opportunity. A couple of timely strikeouts by Roman then shut down the Bulls.
Chang Cheng-wei’s RBI-single off Bulls starter Lin Ying-jeh in the bottom of the second capped a three-run spurt that gave the Elephants a quick 3-0 lead.
Lin Tsong-nan’s solo blast off Roman to lead off the third made it 3-1, only for the Elephants to return and reclaim their three-run advantage in the fifth on Chen’s two-out single that drove in the Elephants’ fourth run of the game.
The feisty Bulls loaded the bases in the sixth with no outs against Roman and knock in a pair of runs one out later on Wang Hsin-ming’s RBI-single that made it 4-3, but that was as close as they got to Roman, as the American righty promptly fanned the ensuing batter and induced a grounder to second for the inning-ending out.
Roman was credited with his second win of the season, while the loss was charged against Lin, who allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits over six innings in a decent outing, but fell victim to a pair of errors that cost him the game.
MONKEYS 3, LIONS 2
Back-to-back solo homers by Lin Chih-sheng and Chen Chin-fong broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth and the Lamigo Monkeys held on to defeat the Uni-President Lions 3-2 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night in an impressive road victory.
Hsu Ming-jeh retired all four of the Lions’ batters he faced, the first of whom ended a Lion scoring threat in the eighth with a runner stranded at third and the latter three translating into a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.
Picking up his first win of the season was Monkeys starter Huang Chin-chih, who allowed a run on a solo blast by Chang Tai-shan in a six-hit effort over seven frames to beat his counterpart Wang Jing-ming.
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