Erupting for eight unanswered runs in the late innings, Taiwan Cooperative Bank rallied from two down in the seventh to defeat National Sports Training Center 8-2 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to sweep the weekend series.
Chien Ting-an’s bases-clearing triple with the bags filled scored the go-ahead runs in the bottom of the seventh to jumpstart what ended up being a six-run inning, before the Bankers tacked on two more in the eighth to complete the three-game sweep.
“I guess later is better than never,” Bankers skipper Hsu Hsuan-yi said after the game of his team’s late-warming offense.
Photo courtesy of the CTBA
National Sports Training Center starter Chou Lei took a no-hitter into the seventh with a 2-0 lead against his squad, before the Banker lineup awoke to turn the table on the Trainers.
“[Chou] was really on top of his game for the first six innings, we were not sure if we would ever get a hit off him,” Hsu said of the Trainers starter’s effort.
The Trainers needed little time to score against Bankers starter Kao Yao-tso, as Chen Yen-rue led off the game with a single and scored two batters later on Edgard Clemente’s base hit to left.
Photo courtesy of the CTBA
Trouble continued for Kao in the second as the Trainer offense made it 2-0 with another run off him in the top of the second.
The 2-0 lead appeared to be enough for the Trainers to pocket the win that would avoid the series sweep as Chou was in total control of the game over the first six frames. Even though he did walk five over the same span, the Banker hitters were unable to solve him for a good part of the contest.
However, the Bankers showed why they are the top team in the league with a valiant comeback to steal the show.
Photo courtesy of the CTBA
TAIPOWER 2, FALCONS 9
The Topco Scientific Falcons also swept their two-game set against Taipower by dominating the Power Crew at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon.
Starter Amaury Rivas tossed seven innings of two-run ball on six hits to keep a potent Taipower offense at bay most of the afternoon, while Chiang Chien-ming drove in three on a 2-for-3 outing to account for one-third of his team’s total offense.
VEETIME 7, CHII LIH CORAL 8
Luo Guo-lin’s two-run homer capped a three-run seventh that blew a 4-3 Chii Lih Coral lead wide open as they went on to beat Taichung’s Veetime in Tianmu last night to win the weekend series 2-1.
Down by four heading the top of the ninth, Veetime plated three to make things interesting.
However, that was as close as they got, as Du Ying-chieh calmly retired the final two batters.
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