Yeh Chu-hsuan’s bases-loaded triple highlighted a six-run eighth that blew an otherwise close 4-2 game wide open for the Lamigo Monkeys as they went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls 10-2 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only completed the sweep in the three-game set between the two clubs in Taichung, but it also gave the red-hot Primates their eighth victory in their past 10 outings, cutting a six-game deficit behind the top-ranked Brother Elephants to a lone game in the latest standings.
Chan Chih-yao’s leadoff homer off Bulls starter Lin Chen-hua set the tone early in the game as the Monkeys jumped to a quick 3-1 lead through two innings of play.
The game then turned into a defensive struggle as the two teams mustered just two runs between them over the next five frames, before the eighth-inning scoring spree by the visitors put the game away for good.
Leading the way for the explosive Lamigo attack were Chan and Yeh, who went a combined five-for-nine with five RBIs to account for half of their team’s total runs.
Matt DeSalvo was credited with the win for pitching seven innings of two-run ball on seven hits to improve to 11-4 for the year, while the loss went to his counterpart Lin, who served up four runs over seven innings, falling victim to an anemic attack that failed to provide much run support.
For the free-falling Bulls, who gave up nearly 40 runs over the weekend and have won just two games in the 14 played so far this month, their troubles continued even after former skipper Liu Rong-hua stepped down earlier this month to take the heat for the team’s recent slide.
Elephants 5, Lions 1
The Brother Elephants overcame a dismal outing in their opener against the Uni-President Lions on Friday with back-to-back wins on Saturday and yesterday to clinch the series by a 2-1 margin.
The Elephants picked up where they left off following Saturday’s 15-5 rout of the defending champions, putting up three runs over the first two innings and going on to defeat the Lions 5-1 in the series finale.
Cheng Hong-chi gave up a run on seven hits in 6-2/3 innings to win his fifth straight, while the loss was charged to the Lions’ Huang Chih-long, who remained winless.
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