Su Jien-rong’s two-run double capped a three-run sixth inning that broke a 4-4 tie as the Sinon Bulls went on to defeat the Uni-President Lions 9-7 at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium last night.
It was Su’s three-run blast that helped the Bulls erase a four-run deficit in the fifth, giving the Bulls outfielder a career-high five RBIs on a night when he could do no wrong.
“I knew I had a chance to hit it out the second the ball left the bat,” Su said after the game, adding that he was sitting on a fastball all the way and made the most of it.
The win not only avenged an embarrassing 9-1 loss against the Cats the night before, but also nipped a two-game slide for the Bulls as they evened the weekend series against the first-half champs at one win apiece, with the series finale scheduled for later this afternoon.
The Lions wasted little time getting on the board with a pair of first-inning runs off Bulls starter Luo Cheng-long and doubled their lead to 4-0 in the fourth on the strength of Yang Song-hsuan’s RBI single and Chang “OEO” Tai-shan’s sacrifice fly against his former club.
Trailing by four after as many innings of play, the Bulls answered in the top of the fifth inning with a solo shot by Wu Tsong-jung to lead off the inning before Su’s three-run dinger.
The Bulls led by as many as five with a pair of eighth-inning runs, courtesy of Lan Hsao-bai’s two-run double off Lion reliever Chang Chih-chiang.
The Lions made things interesting with three quick runs off Bulls reliever Shen Yu-jeh in the top of the ninth to make it a 9-7 game.
That was as close as the Lions got as Shen worked out of the jam by retiring the final two batters, who represented the tying run, to preserve the win.
Picking up his first victory of the year was Luo, who allowed four runs on six hits in 6-2/3 innings of work, while the loss went to his counterpart, Tsai Jing-hao, who served up a pair of homers on a seven-run night in the losing effort.
Elephants 18, Monkeys 3
Aided by a nine-run sixth inning, the Brother Elephants roughed up the Lamigo Monkeys at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium last night to even their weekend series against the Primates at one win each.
Red-hot slugger Chou Si-chi continued his success at the plate following Friday night’s four-RBI effort, in which he hit his first Grand Slam of the season, as he drove home two more runs in last night’s contest to give him nine in the past three games.
Also starring for the Elephants were Chang Min-yen who went 3 for 5 with a pair of RBIs.
Starter Cheng Chi-hong was credited with his fifth win of the year as he improved to a season-high 5-1 mark. The lefty, who spent seven seasons in the minors with two different Major League clubs, allowed two runs on six hits over five frames of play.
Taking the tough loss was Monkeys starter Lee Jui-guan, who was charged with nine runs on seven hits in 5-1/3 innings to fall to a 1-4 record for the year.
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