Behind a two-run homer by Chou Si-chi in the top of the eighth, the Chinatrust Brothers rallied from as many as four down to edge the Lamigo Monkeys 7-6 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
The clutch swing could not have come at a better time, as the veteran slugger got a hold of an offering from Lamigo reliever Chen Yu-hsun with two outs and one on in a 5-5 tie to give his team a 7-5 lead.
“I am glad I was able to help our team win in a crucial game like this one. We really needed the win to maintain our lead in the standings,” Chou said after the game.
His big swing also gave the Brothers just enough of an advantage to withstand the Monkeys’ one-run eighth to keep the victory intact.
Back-to-back errors by the Brothers defense led to three unearned runs in the bottom of the first for the hosts, who managed to add to their advantage by one in the third to lead 4-0 after three innings.
The Brothers were not rattled, erupting for four unanswered runs in the top of the fourth, courtesy of Wang Sheng-wei’s two-run single and Chen Chia-chui’s two-run double to tie the game at 4-4.
After a scoreless fifth, the Primates struck again against Brothers starter Jose Contreras when Chen Chung-hsiu homered off the former major league player to make it 5-4.
The lead lasted less than an inning, as the visitors answered once more when Chou singled off Lamigo starter Cesar Valdez, took second on another single by Chiang Chih-hsien and scored two outs later on a Wang bouncer to left, making it 5-5 and setting the stage for Chou’s eighth-inning blast.
Trailing by two heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Monkeys mustered a run off Contreras on the strength of consecutive singles by Chen Guan-ren and Liang Chia-rong.
That was as close as they got as closer Chen Hung-wen promptly retired the next batter he faced to end the inning before tossing a scoreless ninth to ensure the win.
Picking up his fourth win of the short season, Contreras allowed six runs (only two earned) on as many hits over 7-2/3 innings, while fanning six and walking four.
Tagged with the loss was Chen Yu-hsun, who served up Chou’s game-turning home run to fall to a 1-7 mark for the year.
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