Lin Yu-ching tossed seven strong innings of shutout ball, while Chang Chih-hao homered to drive in two runs as the Chinatrust Brothers ousted the EDA Rhinos 3-1 at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Greater Kaohsiung last night to take sole possession of the lead in the standings.
Trailing the Rhinos by a half-game heading into the contest, the Brothers needed to win to keep their second-half title hopes alive.
That was exactly what they did, as Lin stunned the Rhinos and a sellout home crowd with a three-hit gem through the seventh, before Romulo Sanchez gave up the Rhinos’ lone run of the game in the eighth to lose the shutout bid.
However, fortunately for the Brothers, Chen Hung-wen was able to bail out Sanchez and Lin by retiring three straight batters in the eighth to strand two, before collecting three outs in the ninth with a runner on to preserve the win.
Hired gun Freddy Garcia’s bid for his league-best 12th win got off to a rocky start as the Brothers belted a double and a single off the former major leaguer in the top of the first to take a quick 1-0 lead.
After three fairly quiet innings between the two squads, the Brothers would strike again with Chang’s two-run blast off Garcia in the fifth to up their lead to 3-0, a lead that lasted into the eighth before the Rhinos broke up the shutout bid.
Lin was credited with his ninth win of the year to settle with a 9-10 mark, while the loss went to Garcia, who fell to an 11-9 mark in his first season in Taiwan.
Lions 8, Monkeys 3
Chiang Chen-yen took an 8-0 shutout into the eighth, before issuing back-to-back walks to set up what ended up being a three-run inning for the Lamigo Monkeys in an 8-3 victory for the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The rookie lefty made the most of his first start of the season, by three-hitting the Monkeys over seven brilliant frames to show plenty of promise in his first career win, even though the Cats are already out of playoff contention and will likely reshuffle their starting rotation next season.
What was a close 1-0 lead for the visitors turned into an 8-0 affair, with the Lions erupting for seven runs against Monkeys relievers Wang Cheng-yi and Lin Kuo-yu, highlighted by a three-run blast from Chang “OEO” Tai-shan.
The sudden collapse by the Lamigo bullpen in the sixth also wasted a solid effort from starter Mitch Talbot, who left after the fifth after giving up an unearned run in the third to fall behind the Lions.
Lions slugger Luo Kuo-lung also had a huge day at the plate, with four RBIs on a three-for-four outing, featuring a bases-loaded double that drove in all three runners.
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Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
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