Lin Yi-chuan’s RBI groundout with runners in scoring position capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the fifth as the EDA Rhinos turned a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead and held on to beat the Uni-President Lions by the same score at the at the Kaohsiung Chengching Lake Baseball Stadium last night to take the weekend series at home.
It was the Rhinos’ fourth victory in five games, improving their league-best mark to 4-1 as they start the season well with superior pitching and clutch hitting.
Mike Loree tossed five innings of two-run ball to pick up his second win of the season, despite giving up 10 hits, thanks to a Rhinos bullpen that had four shutout innings of one-hit ball to deny the Lions any chance of a comeback.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
“Our bullpen really did an excellent job holding [the Lions hitters] off, which was difference,” EDA skipper Von Joshua was quoted in Chinese-language reports after the game.
His troops have lived on the edge in the first two weeks of play, winning three of their four games by a single run.
Leading the way for the Rhinos bullpen were Yang Chien-fu and Lin Yi-hao, who combined for three scoreless innings to set up closer Lo Chia-jen’s perfect ninth.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Offensively for the Rhinos, Cheng Da-hung and Lo Kuo-hui led the heart of the order, who batted a combined 6-for-11 to drive in all three of their runs.
As for the Lions, failure to come up with the timely hits cost them as they outhit the hosts 11-8 in a game that they could have easily won.
Tagged with the loss was starter Liao Wen-yang, who gave up three runs on six hits over seven innings.
MONKEYS 6, BROTHERS 10
The Chinatrust Brothers roughed up the Lamigo Monkeys pitching in a 10-6 affair at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to share the weekend series at one win apiece.
Homers by Jaime Pedroza and Chang Chih-hao highlighted a four-run third that turned the tide and a one-run sixth that made it 9-3 for the men in the golden uniforms, who actually trailed by three after starter Cheng Kai-wen served up three in the opening frame.
Cheng regrouped in a hurry to pick up win No. 2 for the season and beat his counterpart Lin Po-yo, who lasted only three innings with seven allowed runs on nine hits.
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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