Chang Cheng-wei’s bases-loaded double sparked a four-run eighth that blew a 4-3 game wide open, as the Brother Elephants went on to defeat the Sinon Bulls by an 8-4 final score at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu last night to take the weekend set in northern Taiwan.
The showdown between a pair of rookie sensations lived up to its billing, with the Elephants’ Lin Yu-ching leading the Bulls’ Lin Chen-hua in a narrow 4-3 affair through the fifth.
Lin Yu-ching left the game after the fifth with the slim advantage and looked for help from the Elephant bullpen, which more than lived up to its task with Yeh Ding-ren chipping in a scoreless sixth and seventh, before Guan Da-yuan, Shih Hsiao-rong and Brad Thomas combined for two innings of one-run ball to deny the Bulls any chance of a comeback.
Back-to-back singles by the Elephants got things rolling in the right direction as they plated three off Lin Chen-hua in the inning to spot Lin Yu-ching a 3-0 lead.
Chang Ming-yen’s RBI single following Wang Sheng-wei’s leadoff double made it 4-0 in the top of the fourth, before the Bulls answered with a three-run fifth that made it a tight game.
The 4-3 lasted through the seventh before the Elephants’ late-inning scoring spree put the game away in the end.
Lin Yu-ching was credited with his fifth win of the year, while the loss was charged against the Bulls’ Lin Chen-hua.
MONKEYS 0, LIONS 1
Eric Wordekemper tossed eight innings of shutout ball and Lin Yueh-ping followed with a scoreless ninth as the Uni-President Lions blanked the Lamigo Monkeys in a 1-0 final at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night to clinch the weekend series.
The classic pitchers’ duel between Wordekemper and the Monkeys’ Ken Ray went down to the wire, as both hurlers pitched deep into the contest before Wordekemper got the better end of the stick to beat out his fellow countryman for his second win of the season.
He received plenty of help from a Lion defense that turned a crucial double play and took away potential hits from the Monkeys to keep it a scoreless affair through the eighth.
After failing to cash in on having the leadoff hitter reach safety in three different innings, the Monkeys managed to muster one final attempt in the ninth against the Lions by placing runners at the corners with one out against Lin.
However, the closer for the defending champs was able to buckle down and pick up the final two outs of the game on a bouncer to short that led to a tag-out at home, before striking out the final hitter to keep the shutout intact.
Offensively for the Lions, the lone run in the game came during the second, when Deng Chih-wei doubled off Ray and scored two batters later on a two-out single by Kao Chih-kang that made it 1-0.
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