Chung Cheng-yo’s tiebreaking single scored the game-winner in the top of the 13th as the Uni-President Lions redeemed themselves after blowing a six-run lead in the eighth inning to defeat the Lamigo Monkeys 8-7 in Game 2 of the Taiwan Series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave the Cats their second triumph on the road in as many days, but more importantly it handed them a comfortable 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven annual “Fall Classic” as they return to home sweet home in Tainan for at least a two-game home stand starting tomorrow.
What should have been an easy win with the Cats enjoying a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth suddenly turned into a dogfight in extra innings as the Monkeys scored three runs in both the eighth and ninth to surprise the visitors.
The Cats wasted little time getting to Lamigo starter Bryan Corey, with three quick runs in the opening frame on the strength of five singles and a double off the American right-hander to lead 3-0, but the home Monkeys would get one of those three back in the bottom of the first when Tsai Jien-wei drew a leadoff walk off Lions starter Dan Reichert and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Lin Chih-sheng that made it 3-1.
BUCKLING DOWN
The score would remain at 3-1 through the seventh despite the early success for both offenses as Corey and Reichert quickly buckled down to retire all but four of the 40 batters they faced, allowing a lone infield single, two walks (one on a hit batsman) and a runner to reach on an error in a classic defensive struggle.
However, Corey’s luck finally ran out in the eighth when Liu Fu-hao led off the inning with a solo blast to left, before Kao Guo-ching followed with a two-run shot to left in what ended up being a four-run spurt to give their team a seemingly commanding 7-1 cushion.
SCORING BURST
That was when the Primates decided to take their game up a notch as they scored six unanswered runs over the final two innings, highlighted by Lin Hong-yu’s game-tying two-run homer off Lions closer Lin Yueh-ping with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
Picking up the win was Wang Jing-ming who pitched three innings of shutout relief to beat his counterpart Lin Jia-wei, who gave up the winning run in a game that neither team deserved to lose.
The two clubs will get a much deserved rest before the series moves to Tainan, with the opening pitch of Game 3 scheduled for 6:30pm tomorrow evening.
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