Kuo Dai-chi’s two-run single sparked a four-run second for the Uni-President Lions as they held on to defeat the Brother Elephants 8-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to clinch the weekend series.
The veteran slugger from the Taipei Physical Education College followed his three-hit effort from the night before with another 3-for-4 break-out, including a pair of RBIs to put the visiting Cats on the verge of sweeping the three-game set.
“I guess I am seeing the ball pretty well as of late,” Kuo said after the game.
His batting average has risen a sizable 15 points over the past two games, putting behind a midseason slump that saw him going 8-for-43 over a 15-game stretch at one point, dropping his batting average from .273 to .238. His timely surge could mean trouble for the opposing pitchers, as they can no longer afford to pitch around the hitters in front of Kuo.
After the Cats put up four runs in the top of the second, the Elephants closed the gap with a pair of solo homers from Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min off Lion starter Yuya Kamada that made it 4-2. However, that was as close as they got, as the Lions plated another run in the seventh before blowing it wide open with a three-run eighth to humble their nemeses in an impressive beating.
Picking up the win was Kamada, who took his league-leading victory total to an even dozen with eight strong innings of two-run ball on six hits, while fanning seven and walking one.
His counterpart Tseng Song-wei pitched well enough to win with five allowed runs (three earned) on nine hits, but fell victim to two errors that led to three unearned runs for the Lions to deal him his first loss of the season.
Monkeys 10, Bulls 5
The Lamigo Monkeys doubled up on the Sinon Bulls with a solid 10-5 road victory at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night for their second win in as many games.
Kuo Yen-wen’s two-run single capped a five-run fourth that shattered a 2-all deadlock to provide the necessary run support that made a winner out of starter Cheng Cheng-hao.
Cheng stumbled through the fifth with four allowed runs (two earned) on eight hits, but managed to bag the win nonetheless.
Kuo Yen-wen ended up with a 3-for-5 night with four RBIs to lead a Monkey offense that teed off against a generous Sinon pitching with 17 hits for the second straight game.
Also starring for the Primates was Chan Chih-yao, who picked up a pair of RBIs on a three-hit outburst that upped the leadoff specialist’s team-best batting average to .330.
Chan has fully recovered from a subpar season last year with an awesome campaign this year that has landed him a spot on the upcoming All-Star roster.
Chen Chih-wei went a perfect 4-for-4 on the night.
However, unfortunately for the Sinon infielder, his showing was the lone highlight for them as they dropped their fourth in a row to settle with a 1-6 mark in the second half.
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