Chang Ming-yen’s pinch-hit three-run homer off Tsai Ming-chin broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, as the Brother Elephants blanked the EDA Rhinos 5-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The win not only evened the weekend series at one win apiece after the Elephants dropped the opener by a 16-4 margin on Friday night, but also gave them sole possession of the lead in the standings. They enjoy a one-game cushion over the second-place Rhinos in a tight race for the second-half title.
The showdown between the top two clubs in the league lived up to its billing as neither team managed to score against the effective pitching of both starters — Chen Hung-wen of the Elephants and Yang Chien-fu of the Rhinos. The former fanned seven over five scoreless innings, while the latter scattered four hits over the same span in a classic pitchers’ duel.
However, things turned sour for the Rhinos after Yang was relieved by Chen Huan-yang in the bottom of the sixth as the men in yellow placed two on with a single by Chou Si-chi and a drawn walk by Wang Sheng-wei to set the scene for Chang’s game-turning swing.
Leading 3-0, the Elephants increased their advantage by two in the seventh with back-to-back run-scoring singles by Huang Shih-hao and Wang off reliever Lin Chi-wei to put the game out of reach.
Picking up the victory was Guan Da-yuan, who followed Chen Hung-wen’s suit with two strong innings of one-hit relief to improve to 6-3 for the year.
The loss was charged against Chen Huan-yang, who was responsible for two of the three runs that the Elephants scored in the decisive sixth.
MONKEYS 7, LIONS 6
The Lamigo Monkeys made it two wins in a row by edging past the Uni-President Lions in a 7-6 decision at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night, thanks to a tie-breaking single by Yu Teh-lung that scored the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.
It was only fitting that Yu also saved the day for the Monkeys with a diving catch in shallow-left with the tying run on second for the game-ending out.
The Primates put up five quick runs over the first three innings to build an early 5-0 cushion, but allowed the Lions to come right back and actually fell behind 6-5 in the sixth, before scoring two unanswered runs to escape with the narrow victory.
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