The last-placed Lamigo Monkeys defeated the Uni-President Lions in an 8-4 victory at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to even their road series at one win apiece.
Six quick runs off Lions starter Wang Ching-ming over the first four innings set the tone for the Primates, who rode the red-hot bat of Chan Chih-yao. The speedy centerfielder finished with three RBIs on a 2-for-4 night to account for nearly half of the Monkeys’ runs.
After the Lions struck their first run of the game on a two-out single by Chang “OEO” Tai-shan in the bottom of the fourth off Monkeys starter Wang Yi-cheng, the game suddenly turned into a defensive battle as neither offense was able to score against the relief pitching of Lions setup men Chang Chih-chiang and Lee Wei-hua, and a stellar effort by the Monkeys’ Wang Yi-cheng.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The scoring drought lasted two batters into the seventh, with Lin Chih-sheng driving in Yu The-lung, who led off the inning with a rare triple off Lee that made it 7-1.
Even though the Lions answered with three runs in the bottom of the seventh with three doubles and a single off Wang and the Monkeys bullpen, it carried no bearings on the outcome as the Monkeys fended off the rally to run away with a convincing win.
Wang Yi-cheng was credited with the win for his 6-1/3 innings of four-run ball on nine hits, while the loss went to Wang Ching-ming for a shaky start that included six runs on nine hits.
RHINOS 7, BROTHERS 5
Kao Kuo-hui’s two-run home run off Luo Kuo-hua in the top of the sixth was the difference as the EDA Rhinos broke a five-all tie on Kao’s thunderous swing and held off a late-game rally attempt by the Chinatrust Brothers at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
Chang Yung-han’s timely single off Chinatrust starter Chen Hung-wen at the top of the second got the Rhinos on the board as they tacked on four more runs off Chen in the first three frames to lead 5-0.
The cushion proved insufficient for the Rhinos pitching, as starter Lin Chen-hua and his replacement Lin Cheng-fong generously returned the favor in a five-run fifth.
After Kao’s two-game blast helped his team regain the lead, it was the Rhinos bullpen who stole the show, as Lin Yi-hao bailed out his team with an inning-ending out in the fifth and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh to set the table for closer Luo Chia-ren, who picked up save No. 3 with a scoreless ninth to preserve the win for Lin Yi-hao.
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