Kuo Hso-wei’s RBI-single capped a three-run fifth that turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead and the Lamigo Monkeys held on to defeat the Uni-President Lions by the same score at the Greater Kaohsiung Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only gave the Monkeys a clean sweep for the weekend series against the first-half champs, but also extended their current win streak to five straight, maintaining their four-game lead over the second-place Elephants in the standings.
In an effort to avoid the series sweep, a very focused Lion pack drew first blood against Monkey starter Lin Jia-wei with a one in the opening frame on the strength of Kao Guo-ching’s run-scoring double. They doubled their lead three innings later when Kao hit his league-best 21st homer of the year, a solo blast to dead center in the fourth that made it 2-0.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
The game turned into a defensive struggle as neither offense was able to produce another against the superb pitching of Lin and the Lions bullpen, the former cruising through the seventh unharmed, and the latter combining for three innings of shutout relief.
Picking up the close win was Lin, who improved to 3-2 for the year, while the loss went to his counterpart Chen Yi-chen, who fell to 2-3 for the season.
ELEPHANTS 6, BULLS 3
The Brother Elephants avenged a bitter loss on Saturday night by doubling up on the Sinon Bulls in a 6-3 decision at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night to avoid a sweep by their nemeses from Taichung in the weekend series.
Starting pitcher Cheng Chi-hong stretched his winning streak to three straight with another sound effort off the mound, pitching two-run ball into the seventh before being relieved by his bullpen.
His offense also provided the run support that had been missing in their two previous losses in which they scored four runs each, to back up the lefty ace, led by Chang Cheng-wei’s 2-for-4 hitting with a pair of RBIs.
Also starring was Wang Sheng-wei, who went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and scored twice to help his team pick up the much-needed victory.
Taking the loss was Sinon starter Lin Keh-chien, who gave up four early runs to put his team in a hole from which they couldn’t escape.
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