Having won four straight and eight of their past dozen, the Lamigo Monkeys have quietly ascended past the struggling Uni-President Lions to take second spot in the standings.
The potent Primates offense, led by Lin Chih-sheng and Chen Chun-hsiu’s red-hot bats, have averaged more than seven runs per game in their past 12 contests to outslug their opponents with an 8-4 record.
The bashing tandem started their reign of terror when Chen broke out for four RBIs on a three-hit night on Sept. 3 and topped it off with five RBIs the following day, including two homers, to lift his team to victories. He went 17 for 44 (.386) with four home runs and 20 RBIs in his past dozen to account for nearly 25 percent of his team’s total run production.
Not to be outshone by Chen, Lin has driven in 16 on an 18-for-49 (.367) run, with six homers over the same 12-game stretch to provide a colossal boost to the defending champions’ offensive output.
“People might have counted us out earlier in the month, but we’ve proven them wrong by scoring runs consistently,” Lin said earlier in the week.
He has had five multi-hit games in the past 12 to give Monkeys fans something to talk about.
While the Primates are on a rampage, the Lions’ season has gone in the other direction, as they dropped from second to third in the standings and are on the verge of dropping out of playoff contention due to a recent free fall, in which they lost nine of the past 12, including a six-game slide.
Poor pitching was the culprit, as the Lions’ offense actually averaged nearly five runs per game — compared with the six runs that the Lions’ pitchers allowed per game over the same span — and could have won at least four of the nine losses if the pitching had not given up too many runs to spoil the potential wins.
The four-game win streak in the middle of last month that brought the Lions to as close as two-and-a-half games of the league-leading Chinatrust Brothers seems very far away, as the Lions look to regroup in a hurry to keep their post-season hopes alive.
Consistent starting pitching is undoubtedly the solution to the Lions’ current problem, as they cannot afford to give up quick leads to put even more pressure on a lineup that is not exactly blowing by their opposition.
“We really have to buckle down and keep the games close with a better job from our starters,” skipper Chen Lien-hung was quoted as saying by Chinese-language media.
His starters have allowed four or more runs through the fifth in five of their past dozen to dig holes that were often too deep for the Lions offense to overcome.
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