Yang Song-hsuen’s walk-off single with a runner on second won the game for the Uni-President Lions as they overcame an early five-run deficit to top the Brother Elephants 7-6 in extra innings at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Friday evening.
Veteran outfielder Yang, known more for his fancy glove-work, let his bat do the talking with his lone hit of the night.
“It’s great to have a chance to help the team win,” Yang said after being named the game’s MVP.
The win, coupled with the Sinon Bulls’ loss to the La New Bears in Luodong on the same night, propelled the Lions to the top of the league standings, with a half-game margin over the Bears and the previously first-place Bulls.
The home Cats found themselves in an early 0-5 hole as the Elephants jumped starter Pan Jung-rong for five first-inning runs, highlighted by a leadoff homer from Chen “the Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan and Wang Jin-yong’s three-run blast.
After stranding five runners over the first three innings against Kobayashi Ryokan, the Lions finally broke through against the Elephants’ Japanese starter with a pair of runs in the fourth that made it 5-2.
An explosive fifth saw four more runs, including Kuo Dai-chi’s three-run shot off Pan Jung-rong for the Lions’ first lead of the game at 6-5.
But the lead would last less than an inning, as the Elephants returned with a run of their own on a sacrifice fly by Chou Si-chi. The score remained 6-all until Yang’s game-clinching hit in the bottom of the 10th.
Reliever Kuo Jien-san picked up the win for the Lions with three scoreless innings of two-hit relief to beat his counterpart Mai Jia-rei for his first win of the season.
BEARS 7, BULLS 6
The La New Bears won 7-6 in their game against the Sinon Bulls at the Ilan County Baseball Stadium in Luodong on Friday, thanks to a tie-breaking solo homer by Chen Chin-fong in the bottom of the eighth that capped a four-run comeback.
Also starring for the Bears was slugger Lin Chih-sheng, who homered for the 11th time this season with a solo blast off Bulls starter Lin Ying-jeh in the sixth to lead the league in the long-ball total.
It was the fifth time that both Chen and Lin Chih-sheng homered in a game this season and the Bears have won all five. The Bears lead the league in homers with 31, nearly the combined total of 33 by the rest of the league — the Lions (14), Elephants (11) and Bulls (8).
Keng Bo-hsuen was credited with the win for pitching a scoreless eighth while Jermaine van Buren picked up his fifth save of the year for the Bears.
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