Powered by Chen Chiang-ho’s first home run of the season, the Chinatrust Brothers erased an early deficit with a three-run sixth and went on to defeat the EDA Rhinos 8-4 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to jumpstart their makeup week.
The win came after the most-storied franchise in the league’s history announced the signing of former US Major League player Jose Contreras of Cuba.
The resumption of a rain-suspended May 24 contest in Hualien began in the top of the third, in which the visiting Rhinos scored three runs on the back of an RBI groundout by Lin Yi-chuan and a two-run single by Yang Guan-wei to turn a 1-3 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
Photo: EPA
EDA’s slim lead lasted into the sixth, with Andy Sisco holding his ground from the third through the fifth before the American lefty served up Chen’s three-run blast that ended up being the game-winning hit.
Chinatrust kept the EDA hitters at bay with starter Mike McClendon pitching shutout ball on six hits over 6-2/3 innings of work for his third win of the season.
Taking the loss was Sisco, who allowed five runs on as many hits over 5-1/3 frames, his third setback of the season since rejoining the Rhinos earlier in the month.
LIONS 1, MONKEYS 8
The top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys roughed up the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to lift their league-best mark to 36-22.
The Monkeys have shown no signs of slowing down since clinching the first-half title two weeks ago, taking eight of their past 10 to give their supporters something to cheer about.
Lin Chih-sheng’s two-run blast off Lions starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-lung in the bottom of the first got things moving in the right direction for the Primates, who rang up three off the Lions starter in the opening frame to set the tone early.
After three scoreless innings in which neither offense could do much against the effective pitching of Du Du and Lamigo starter Wang Yi-cheng, the home team struck again in the fifth, when Chan Chih-yao led off the inning with a single and scored three batters later on Lin’s sacrifice fly, followed by Kuo Yung-wei’s run-scoring single with two outs that knocked out Du Du.
Even though the Lions finally got on the board in the top of the sixth with Chou Kuan-sheng’s sacrifice fly to avoid the shutout, the outcome of the game was never in doubt.
The Monkeys quickly added to their lead with a three-run seventh to put the game away long before the final out.
Picking up his eighth win of the year was Wang, who improved to a career-best 8-2 with seven innings of one-run ball despite giving up six hits, while the loss was charged against Du Du, who fell to 5-5 with five allowed runs on nine hits in 4-2/3 innings of play.
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