The Uni-President Lions held off a three-run rally by the Chinatrust Brothers in the bottom of the ninth to escape with a 4-3 win at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night, sweeping the weekend’s three-game series.
Boof Bonser got the Brothers’ Wang Sheng-wei to fly out for the game-ending play, which kept the men in the golden uniforms from turning the tide on the Cats, who won their third straight game by a run.
The US righty, who entered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, managed to redeem himself after giving up a two-run double to Chinatrust’s Chen Chiang-ho that cut the Lions lead to a solitary run.
Photo: CNA
The showdown between the Lions’ Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen and Brothers newcomer Chris Cody saw the Cats drawing first blood after three scoreless innings, when Luo Kuo-lung tripled off Cody and scored on Pan “TAKE” Wu-hsiung’s three-bagger on the next play that made it 1-0 to the visitors.
The Cats extended their lead by two in the fifth, with a run-scoring single from Luo following an RBI groundout by Liu Fu-hao that put them ahead 3-0.
After three scoreless frames, the Lion offense scored their fourth run of the game when TAKE homered off reliever Wang Tzeh-chun, which proved invaluable because it represented the margin of victory, with the Brothers rallying for three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Picking up his fifth win of the season with 8-2/3 innings of three-run ball on six hits was Du Du, who took a shutout two outs into the ninth before loading up the bases and surrendering a run, which prompted skipper Chen Lien-hung to bring on Bonser.
Tagged with the loss was Cody, who suffered his first defeat of the season in his third start for the Brothers. The southpaw from the US allowed three runs on eight hits over seven innings.
RHINOS 7, MONKEYS 1
The resurgent EDA Rhinos claimed a three-game road sweep of the Lamigo Monkeys with a win at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night, thanks to a solid Taiwan debut by newcomer Victor Garate of Venezuela.
Other than allowing the Monkeys’ lone run in the bottom of the third on a pair of hits, Garate was well on top of his game as he cruised through the sixth without further damage before being pulled after 105 pitches.
Offensively for the Rhinos, the night belonged to Chang Chien-ming and Hu Chin-lung, who combined for five RBIs on as many hits to account for the bulk of the team’s run production.
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