Chan Chih-yao’s solo blast off Chen Hung-wen with two outs in the top of the ninth broke a 1-all tie for the Lamigo Monkeys as they held on to defeat the Chinatrust Brothers 2-1 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night to even the weekend series at one win apiece.
It was only the second long ball that the speedy outfielder has driven out of the ball park, but it could not have come at a better time, as the visitors had missed several golden scoring opportunities in the previous innings to allow the Brothers in the game.
“I guessed a fastball all the way and that was what [Chen] threw me,” Chan said after the game.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
His towering shot had no trouble clearing the left-center wall to put his club ahead.
Trailing by a run, the Brothers had their share of excitement in the bottom of the ninth, when Chou Si-chi hit a two-out double off starter Jared Lansford and took third on the ensuing batter to fall within 27m of tying up the game.
That was as close as they got as Yu The-lung managed to run down a hard hit ball by Lin Wei-chu just in time for the game-ending out.
Lansford was credited with his sixth win of the year for going the distance for the Primates. The US righty allowed a run on eight hits while fanning two and walking none to improve to 6-1 for the year. He is now tied with fellow US hurler Mike Loree of the EDA Rhinos for most wins in the league.
Charged with the loss was Chen, who entered in the ninth in a 1-all tie and picked up two quick outs before serving up the game-winner to Chan.
Chinatrust starter Cheng Kai-wen tossed seven effective innings with one unearned run allowed on seven hits to leave with a no-decision.
RHINOS 18, LIONS 4
Scoring early and often, the EDA Rhinos erupted for 19 hits in an 18-4 blowout over the Uni-President Lions at the Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung last night to clinch the weekend set against the Cats.
The hitters had their way the entire time as the Lions opened the contest with three quick runs off Rhino starter Tsai Ming-chin in the top of the first when Mai Chia-yi, Deng Chih-wei and Kuo Chun-yo each connected on RBI singles.
That proved to be the only lead the Cats would enjoy as the Rhinos immediately countered with seven runs in the bottom of the first on the strength of five hits and four walks off Lions starter Wang Ching-ming and his replacement Chiang Cheng-fong to jumpstart what ended up being a double-digit rout.
By the time all was said and done, the victorious Rhinos had racked up 19 hits, including five home runs on the night to claim their third straight “W.”
Pocketing the win was Tsai, who shook off a three-run first with four solid innings of work to beat his counterpart Wang, who had his fourth setback of the season.
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