Lin Chih-sheng’s two-run single off Kuo Hung-chih with two outs capped a four-run ninth as the Lamigo Monkeys rallied from three down to top the Uni-President Lions 6-5 at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
Miguel Mejia pitched a scoreless ninth, despite giving up a two-out single to the Lions’ Kao Guo-ching to pick up his league-leading 17th save of the year. The Lamigo closer is now tied with Kuo for most saves in the league.
Chen Guan-ren’s two-out double broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third to give the road Primates an early 1-0 advantage, only to see the home Cats answer with a pair of runs in the bottom of the same inning on the merit of run-scoring singles by Pan “TAKE” Wu-hsiung and Chen Yung-chee that made it 2-1.
The two teams traded a run each in the fifth before the Lions took a seemingly comfortable 5-2 lead in the seventh with back-to-back doubles by TAKE and Kao.
However, the diehard Primates simply would not go away as they took Kuo head on with three straight singles after a quick out to start the top of the ninth to load up the bases which set up Yu The-lung’s RBI single that made it 5-3.
After Chen Guan-ren drew a bases-loaded walk that made it 5-4, designated hitter Chen Chin-fong would strike out against Kuo to set the stage for Lin’s game-turning single that gave his team its second lead of the game.
The Cats managed to put the tying run on with two outs against Mejia in the bottom of the ninth. However, Chen Yung-chee’s fly ball to center was not far enough to escape the waiting glove of Lamigo outfielder Lan Yen-luen, who calmly caught the ball for the game-ending out.
Earning his fifth win of the year was Lamigo reliever Chen Yu-hsun, who pitched a scoreless eighth, while the loss went to a normally sure-handed Kuo, who fell to 0-4 for the season with a blown save charged against him.
BROTHERS 4, RHINOS 3
The Chinatrust Brothers scored four first-inning runs against the EDA Rhinos and held on for their dear lives to escape with a 4-3 win at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night.
The win not only extended the Brothers’ win streak to three straight, but also marked their seventh triumph in eight chances as they improved to 8-1 in the second half of the season.
Closer Brad Thomas was the man of the hour as he struck out Fang Keh-wei and Lin Yi-chuan to strand two in the eighth and ninth respectively to deny the Rhinos two great chances for a comeback.
Starter Chen Hung-wen won his fifth game of the season to beat his counterpart, Lin Chen-hua, who remains winless at 0-5 for the year.
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