Seven nearly flawless innings by Hansel Izquierdo led the way for the President Lions as they toppled the Brother Elephants in a 12-2 decision in Tainan on Saturday evening to keep their postseason hopes alive.
The US right-hander had not lived up to the high expectations that the Lions organization had placed on him when he joined the team two weeks prior to the Aug. 31 deadline for final roster changes. Against the Elephants, however, he threw a two-hit gem over seven frames for only his second win in five starts.
Other than a high pitch down the pike that the Elephants' Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan smashed for a two-run homer in the top of the seventh, Izquierdo put up nothing but goose eggs on the board before bullpen mates Lin Yueh-ping and Tseng Yi-cheng chipped in with a scoreless eighth and ninth to make it look easy against the Elephants' lineup.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Offensively for the home-team cats, designated hitter Chen Lien-hong's grand slam off rookie starter Yeh Yong-jeh in the opening frame set the tone early as they scored in all but one of the first six innings on 13 hits to pile on a dozen runs on the night.
Yeh was responsible for the loss, allowing 10 of the 12 Lions runs on 10 hits, including two more home runs to the Lions' Yang Seng and Tilson Brito in a three-run second. It was Yeh's sixth setback of the year and might have cost him his spot on the starting rotation as skipper Wu Si-shien is said to be mulling the possibility of demoting the rookie to the Elephants' bullpen.
The Lions bats were not the only red-hot objects in the game as both dugouts emptied onto the field after Lin nailed an Elephants batter in the waist in the eighth in retaliation for the Elephants' Hsiao Ren-wen hitting a Lions batter in the seventh.
Hsiao told reporters after the game that he threw at the Lions batter only because the Lions showed no respect to them for when attempting to steal second after they had built a 10-0 lead.
"I was only doing what I was told [hitting the batter] by the dugout," a helpless Lin said apologetically after the game.
Whales 4, Bears 4
Lin Chih-sheng's two-out single with runners at the corners scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth as the La New Bears forced a 4-4 tie with the Chinatrust Whales in Kaohsiung on Saturday night to remain unbeaten at home this month.
The blown save by the Whales bullpen was its third in a row, costing staff ace Tseng Jau-hao his 12th win of the year while revealing a serious deficiency in protecting late-game leads.
The Whales had surrendered five runs in the ninth on back-to-back occasions to lose multi-run leads and the game against the Brother Elephants earlier in the week, giving manager Lee Lai-fa something else to worry about.
The game began with the home Bears offense swinging the bats well against Tseng in the early going, netting them three runs for a 3-0 lead through the first three innings.
Then came a four-run fifth by the Whales that not only roughed up La New starter Wu Si-yo for three singles and two doubles but also gave the Whales a 4-3 lead, forcing the Bears 15-game winner to leave well short of his usual six innings per start.
That was all the runs that either team could produce through the top of the ninth, setting the table for Lin's late-game rally that avoided a bitter loss for the Bears.
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