Chang Min-yen’s timely three-run blast broke a two-all deadlock in the top of the eighth as the Brother Elephants rallied from one down with a four-run eight to top the Uni-President Lions 5-3 at the Kaohsiung Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium last night.
It was only the third homer that the infielder out of Pingtung’s Mei Ho High School has hit this year; but that was all it took for the men in the golden uniforms to take the lead for good after trailing for a large part of the game.
Chang “OEO” Tai-shan’s solo shot broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second to give the Cats a quick 1-0 lead before the Elephants answered with a run of the their own in the fourth on Chen Jiang-ho’s RBI groundout to tie the game at 1-all.
After Kuo Jung-yo’s solo blast gave the Cats their second lead of the game at 2-1 in the fifth, the game quickly turned into a defensive struggle as neither team were able to score again through the seventh.
Trailing by one, Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min’s timely single with runners at the corners tied the game at two-all in the eighth, setting the table for Chang Min-yen’s game-turning homer.
Picking up the win was Elephant reliever Guan Da-yuan, who pitched a scoreless seventh to beat his counterpart Kao Jien-san as Kao surrendered three in the eighth to suffer the loss.
Bulls 7, Monkeys 5
Hsu Guo-long’s blooper single to left also broke a gridlock in the bottom of the eighth for the Sinon Bulls as they overcame a two-run deficit late in the game to skip past the Lamigo Monkeys 7-5 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The rain-delayed game that saw the top-ranked Primates take a 5-3 lead on the strength of a three-run sixth was all-Bulls from the eighth inning on as they dominated on both sides of the ball with a four-run spur, then looked to several stellar defensive plays over the final two innings of play.
Right-fielder Hsu Yu-cheng’s diving catch for an inning-ending play in the eighth not only highlighted the Bulls’ defensive clinic, but also took away a run and an extra-base hit from the Monkeys.
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