Chen Chih-wei’s clutch two-out double sparked what ended up being a four-run 11th inning as the Sinon Bulls broke a 1-1 tie in extra-innings to down the Brother Elephants 5-2 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
Lin Ying-jeh blew a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning that cost starter Yang Jien-fu the win by giving up the tying run to the Elephants on a pair of singles and a hit batsman, but redeemed himself with one-hit ball over the next three innings to pick up his sixth victory of the year.
“It’s all part of the game,” Yang (5-1) said, referring to his bullpen’s inability to keep the shutout intact after he had dominated the Elephants hitters in a three-hit gem through the seventh to put himself in position for his sixth win of the season.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
His resurgence from three straight losing seasons is the main reason the Bulls easily won the first half of the season. They have three hurlers that have won six games or more.
Equally impressive on the night was Elephants starter Jim Magrane who lasted well into the 10th with nine-and-two-third innings of one-run ball, before being relieved by countryman Ryan Cullen.
Magrane would not be awarded the win because his hitters failed to solve Yang and Lin when it counted.
BEARS 9, LIONS 1
The La New Bears erupted for four base hits in an eight-run seventh inning to take a 9-0 lead and go on to defeat the Uni-President Lions 9-1 at the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium last night for their second win in as many days.
Chen Chin-fong’s solo homer off Lion starter Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen in the bottom of the fifth broke a scoreless tie in a classic pitchers’ duel between Du Du and his counterpart, Ken Ray, who improved to 4-3 for the season with the win.
The American right-hander allowed no runs on five hits over six strong innings, while fanning five and walking one to extend his shutout streak against the Uni-President Lions to 16-and-two-third innings and counting.
Leading the La New attack was rookie catcher Lin Hong-yu, who connected on a pair of doubles off the Lions pitching to up his batting average to a solid .314, second best to fellow slugger Lin Chih-sheng’s team-best .327.
Also starring was outfielder Tsai Jien-wei, whose bases-loaded triple drove in three runs to cap the eight-run seventh.
Failure to come up with the timely hits cost the Lions the game as they batted a dismal one-for-14 with runners in scoring position to waste a great outing from Du Du, who suffered the tough loss despite pitching one-run ball over six frames.
The Lions actually outhit the Bears 8-6 on the night.
Today sees the Brother Elephants take on the Sinon Bulls in Taichung in a fixture originally scheduled for May 30. The game is set to start at 5:05pm.
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