A pair of untimely walks issued by starter Liao Wen-yang, coupled with some clutch hitting on the part of the Chinatrust Brother Elephants that led to a four-run third, made the difference in the game as the Elephants humbled the Uni-President Lions in a 5-1 final at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to win their weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
Starter Lin Yu-ching was in a league of his own, pitching one-hit ball through the seventh, before giving up the lone run in the game on three hits to win his second game of the season. Even though he did not have a chance to pick up the complete game, with his pitching count hitting the 110 mark, the victory was equally sweet nonetheless as it gave the battered Elephants pitching staff a tremendous boost of confidence, not to mention some much needed rest.
“I’m glad I was able to get some calls my way at the plate to get ahead on the count, that was big for me today,” Lin said after the game.
Offensively for the victorious Elephants, leadoff man Chang Cheng-wei continued his red-hot streak at the plate with two hits on the night after pounding out five hits to set a new career high the night before to raise his league-best average to .352.
Taking the tough loss in his third quality start in four chances for the Lions was Liao, who allowed five runs (only two earned) on seven hits over 6-1/3 innings to fall to 1-2 for the year.
MONKEYS 10, RHINOS 8
The Lamigo Monkeys nipped a two-game slide with a valiant 10-8 triumph over the EDA Rhinos at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Greater Kaohsiung last night to avoid a road-sweep by the Rhinos.
The slugfest that featured 18 runs on 31 hits and six lead changes saw the Primates lose a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth, with Lin Guo-yu serving up a two-run triple to the Rhinos’ Lin Tsong-nan, before plating three unanswered runs over the eighth and ninth to escape with a 10-8 win.
Chan Chih-yao’s two-out single that turned into a three-bagger with the help of a two-base error by Rhinos centerfielder Kao Hsiao-yi scored the runner from second to tie things up at eight-all in the top of the eighth, before the Monkeys cashed in a wild pitch by Rhinos closer Lin Yi-hao that scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth for the visitors.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
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