Chen Yong-chi’s clutch double drove in a pair of runs that sparked a three-run fifth as the Uni-President Lions went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls 6-1 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night to sweep the three-game set over the weekend.
The win not only gave the Big Cats their first three-game win streak in nearly seven weeks, but also brought them to within a game of the Lamigo Monkeys in the overall season record as they hone in on the homestretch of the arduous 120-game regular season before the playoffs begin next month.
Starter Chen Yi-cheng took a shutout two outs into the sixth before being relieved after he loaded up the bases with two walks and a single. In came Lin San-fong, who bailed Chen out of the jam unharmed with an easy play to first.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Lions carried the shutout bid one out into the ninth before Fang Keh-bai tripled off reliever Chang Chih-chiang and scored on a sacrifice fly on the ensuing play to break up the shutout.
Pocketing the win was Chen, who improved to an even 3-3 mark for the year, with 5-2/3 innings of shutout ball on three hits and four walks to beat his counterpart, Lin Keh-chien, who allowed three runs on four hits over six innings in a quality start.
ELEPHANTS 9, MONKEYS 2
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Brother Elephants took the three-game series over the weekend by a 2-1 margin with a road victory over the top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s solo blast off Monkeys starter Wang Fong-hsin highlighted a two-run third, before Chang Cheng-hao’s bases-clearing, three-run double in the fourth blew the game wide open at 5-0.
The Primates finally broke through in the fifth on Tsai Cheng-wei’s RBI groundout only to see the Elephants answer with two more runs in the sixth to widen their lead by one.
The Monkeys had their best chance at closing the gap in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs against Orlando Roman that brought home crowd to their feet. However, the US reliever pitched out of trouble by retiring the next three batters in order without giving up any runs in a gutsy outing to preserve the lead.
Starter Tyler Lumsden was credited with his ninth win of the year with six solid innings of work, while the Monkeys’ Wang, who lasted only 3-2/3 innings, took the loss.
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