The league-leading Lamigo Monkeys continued their winning ways by topping the Chinatrust Brothers 9-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to extend their winning streak to a season-high six games.
Starter Mitch Atkins tossed his best game of the season since joining the Primates early last month by holding the men in the golden uniforms to three scattered singles over seven dominant innings, while fanning eight and walking a pair to improve to 4-3 for the year.
Other than loading up the bases with one out in the seventh inning, which he managed to pitch out of, the American right-hander did not allow a Brothers runner past first base through the sixth inning.
With Atkins in complete control, the Monkeys offense went to work against Brothers starter Shaun Garceau, with at least a run scored in each of the first three frames to build a 4-0 advantage, highlighted by the first of four doubles by Chen Chun-hsiu to drive in a run in the bottom of the third.
Chen finished with three RBIs, while tying the league record for the most doubles in a game.
Also starring was infielder Kuo Yen-wen, who went deep against Brothers reliever Chiang Chung-cheng for a two-run shot in a three-run seventh inning to seal the victory long before the final out.
Trailing by nine at the start of the ninth, the Brothers finally broke through against the Monkeys pitching by ringing up two against reliever Hsu Ming-chieh to avoid a shutout, but it was too little, too late as the league leaders ran away with an easy victory.
RHINOS 6, LIONS 3
The EDA Rhinos made it two wins in a row by doubling up on the Uni-President Lions at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to begin the weekend on a high note.
Mike Loree pitched eight innings of shutout ball in a three-hitter to give the visitors a 6-0 lead, before he was relieved at the start of the ninth.
Loree was credited with the win to improve to 8-2 for the season, even though his team missed out on a shutout by serving up three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Leading the way at the plate for the Rhinos was Yang Kuan-wei, who went three-for-five with a run batted in to up his season average to .333.
The two teams suit up for Game 2 of the three-game series in Tainan this afternoon, with the opening pitch scheduled for 5:05pm.
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