Chen Guan-ren’s RBI double highlighted a four-run eighth for the Lamigo Monkeys as they rallied from three down to edge past the top-ranked Chinatrust Brothers 8-6 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
It was a big hit for the veteran slugger against his former club as the struggling Primates looked to close the gap between them and the third-place EDA Rhinos in the standings midway through the second half of the season.
Lin Chih-sheng’s three-run home run off Brothers starter Lin Yu-ching in the opening frame spotted Lamigo starter Cheng Cheng-hao a 3-0 lead before Cheng even took the mound.
However, the three-run cushion proved insufficient as the Brothers erupted for six runs on four singles, two doubles and a triple in the bottom of the second to chase Cheng in a hurry.
The 6-3 score remained unchanged over the next five innings, with the Lamigo bullpen holding its ground and Lin Yu-ching doing his job to deny the opposing batters any scoring opportunity.
However, with the game and the weekend series on the line, the Primates promptly shifted into a different gear as they sent eight men to the plate to score four runs that turned a 6-3 deficit into a 7-6 advantage.
Lan Ying-luen’s timely single with runner in scoring position scored an insurance run for the Monkeys in the top of the ninth, which was enough for Kuo Chun-chieh to pick up his second win of the season, with closer Miguel Mejia tossing a scoreless ninth for his league-leading 24th save of the year.
Taking the loss was reliever Brad Thomas, who entered in the bottom of the eighth with one out and served up a single and a double to give up the lead.
He is now 1-3 for the season.
Elsewhere in the CPBL, the Rhinos-Lions game was postponed because of rain.
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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