Homers lit up the sky yesterday afternoon with the Uni-President Lions belting three long balls against the Lamigo Monkeys in a convincing 7-0 shutout at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Kao Guo-ching got things moving in the right direction for the Lions with a solo blast off Monkeys rookie starter Cheng Cheng-hao to lead off the top of the second, before fellow slugger Kuo Jung-yo followed with a two-run shot two batters later to give their team a quick 3-0 lead.
After a pair of hits in the third by the Lions that knocked out Cheng, Lin Jing-min was called to the mound to help stop the hemorrhaging, but that did not keep the Lion hitters from teeing off against the veteran reliever as Kuo Dai-chi got a hold of an offering from Lin and deposited it into the right-field seats for a two-run homer to double the lead to 6-0.
Photo: Chan Chao-yang, Taipei Times
The Lions would tack on another run in the fourth that made it 7-0, which was more than ample for starter Dan Reichert, who pitched 6-2/3 scoreless innings of four-hit ball before the Lions’ bullpen took over with 2-1/3 innings of perfect relief to keep the shutout win intact for the American right-hander.
Taking the loss for the league-leading Monkeys was Cheng, who failed to impress skipper Hong Yi-chung in only his second start of the season. He lasted only 2-1/3 innings, surrendering five runs on six hits in the process.
The Lions win avoided a clean sweep by the Monkeys in the three-game weekend and brought them to within 1-1/2 games of the Monkeys in the standings.
Bulls 5, Elephants 3
Lin Keh-chien tossed 6-2/3 innings of three-run ball and Lin Tsong-nan went 3-for-4 with an RBI as the Sinon Bulls defeated the Brother Elephants 5-3 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday.
The win not only avenged an embarrassing 10-1 rout by the Elephants, but clinched the weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
After Lin’s clutch single got the Bulls on the board in the third, it was the Elephants who came right back and answered with two runs in the fourth to claim a 2-1 lead.
However, the Bulls enjoyed the last laugh as they promptly tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth on Cheng Da-hong’s two-out single, before skidding ahead for good with a pair of runs in the sixth on RBI-swings by Lan Hsao-bai and Su Jien-rong.
Lin Keh-chien was credited with his first win of the season for his outstanding effort, while the loss was charged to Guan Da-yuan, who fell to an even 2-2 mark for the year.
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