Lin Chih-hsiang’s walk-off single off Brother Elephants’ closer Brad Thomas with a runner on second scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth as the Uni-President Lions edged past the Elephants 3-2 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night for their first win of the season.
Just one day after dropping the season-opener to the Lamigo Monkeys 10-8, the Cats were more than eager to win and they sent Luo Chin-lung to the mound to take on Elephant ace Lin “Little Chick” En-yu.
Both starters surrendered a run in the opening frame, with Luo allowing a single and a double to the Elephants in his professional debut in Taiwan, and Lin issuing a leadoff walk and a run-scoring single in the bottom of the same inning.
However, the game quickly turned into a pitchers’ duel with a scoreless second and third, before the Lions struck again in the fourth with a run on Kao Chih-kang’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Little Chick.
The lead lasted less than an inning as the Elephants came back with a two-out single by Chang Chih-hao that scored the runner from second to tie the game at two-all. That score stood late into the game until last-minute heriocs from Lin Chih-hsiang’s saved the day.
Picking up the win for the Cats was reliever Wang Ching-ming, who entered in the eighth with runners on first and second and two outs, and pitched his team out of harm’s way before tossing a perfect ninth for his first win of the season.
Taking the loss was Wang’s counterpart Guan Da-yuan, who walked the second Lions batter he faced in the ninth to set up Lin Chih-hsiang’s game-winner.
MONKEYS 10, RHINOS 2
The Lamigo Monkeys spoiled the EDA Rhinos’ (formerly the Sinon Bulls) inaugural game by trouncing them 10-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to win their second game in as many days.
The red-hot Primates picked up where they left off on Saturday night, when they won 10-8 over the Lions, by plating eight runs in the first two innings of the contest in another 10-run game.
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