The EDA Rhinos stifled the Chinatrust Brother Elephants with some late-game magic yesterday to win 3-2 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
Lin Tsong-nan’s walk-off single off reliever Guan Da-yuan with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth scored the game-winner in the second straight victory the Rhinos have clinched on their last at-bat, following Saturday’s 2-1 win against the Elephants that saw them take the weekend series 2-1.
Guan entered the bottom of the ninth with the game tied two-all and got two quick outs in what looked set to be another extra-inning affair between the two clubs.
However, Cheng Da-hung singled off the Elephants reliever to reach first, before taking second on a straight steal to set the stage for Lin’s game-winner.
“It was unbelievable to win back-to-back games like this, both results could have gone either way,” Lin said, after his season-high 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in a rare start last night proved he belongs in the big leagues.
The classic pitchers’ duel between the Elephants’ Lin Yu-ching and the Rhinos’ Huang Wu-hsiung saw neither offense able to do much, resulting in a scoreless tie after four innings of play.
However, Huang’s luck ran out in the top of the fifth when Huang Shih-hao led off the inning with a clean double and scored two outs later on a Wang Sheng-wei blooper single that made it 1-0 in favor of the Elephants.
The lead lasted less than an inning, though, as the Rhinos promptly returned the favor by scoring a run off Lin Yu-ching on the strength of three straight singles off the hard-throwing righty.
The two teams traded runs in a seventh that made it two-all and set up Lin Tsong-nan.
Picking up the win was Tsai Ming-chin, who bailed Huang out in the seventh with an inning-ending strikeout that stranded two before pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth to beat Guan, who had two outs in the ninth.
LIONS 6, MONKEYS 2
The Uni-President Lions yesterday avoided being swept by the Lamigo Monkeys on the road with a 6-2 win over at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Kuo Dai-chi’s RBI single off Monkeys starter Shoda Itsuki sparked a six-run fourth as the Lions batted around the order. That made the difference, as the Monkeys put up just two runs in the fifth to avoid the shutout, but never threatened to score again.
Lions starter Liao Wen-yang was credited with the win, allowing two runs on nine hits over seven innings, while the loss was tagged to Shoda, who fell to 0-2 in three starts.
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