Scoring early and often, the Uni-President Lions humbled the Lamigo Monkeys in a 9-0 shutout at Taipei’s Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to close out an otherwise disappointing first half on a high note.
The win not only nipped a four-game slide for the Lions, but also avenged a three-game sweep by the first-half champs last week in which the Lions were outscored by a combined total of 16-4 on the road.
HOPEFUL
Even though they would settle for a league-worst mark of 26-33-1, a half-game behind the third-place Chinatrust Brothers, skipper Chen Lien-hung is hopeful that his troops can still have a strong second half.
“It is a big win for us because I am starting to see a lot of our players making improvements and turning their game around,” Chen said after the game.
Heading his list of such players was starter Doug Mathis, who bounced back from a pair of losses with five scoreless innings to pick up his fourth win of the year.
Despite giving up seven hits, the right-hander from the University of Missouri managed to pitch out of trouble on several occasions to hand a 9-0 lead to his bullpen after five.
Lin Chih-hsiang led off the bottom of the first with a single off Monkey starter Wang Yi-cheng, stole second and scored on Luo Kuo-lung’s RBI single to give his team a quick 1-0 lead.
The Cats plated their second run of the inning on Chou Kuan-sheng’s sacrifice fly after an error had helped load up the bases before plating three runs in the bottom of the second to grab a comfortable 5-0 lead.
After Fang Chang-yung’s run-scoring single off reliever Cheng Cheng-hao made it 6-0 in the third, the Cats delivered the knockout blow in the fourth with three more runs, highlighted by Liu Fu-hao’s two-run blast off Monkey reliever Wang Fong-hsin to claim a commanding 9-0 advantage.
SHUTOUT INTACT
That was more than ample for the Lion bullpen, who sent three hurlers to hold the Primates scoreless over four solid innings of two-hit relief to keep the shutout intact.
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Monkeys the game as they batted a dismal 0-for-8 with runners in scoring positions to have no runs to show for the nine hits they mustered off the Lions pitching.
Wang was charged with his third loss of the season for the four runs he allowed on two hits and three walks in one-plus innings of play. He is now 8-3 for the year.
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