Make-up week continued with the EDA Rhinos topping the Brother Elephants 8-5 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
The win not only revived the Rhinos from a deflating last-inning loss to the Lamigo Monkeys the night before, but also lifted them back to the top of the standings above the Uni-President Lions.
A pair of homers by Kao Guo-ching on a four-RBI night led the way for the victors as they made the most of a six-run fourth to turn a 1-2 deficit into a 7-2 lead before holding off a late Elephants rally to prevail.
It was the first time that the former minor league standout for the Seattle Mariners had belted multiple homers in a game since returning to Taiwan, boosting his season total for long balls to seven and counting.
“Manny or no Manny, we will always do our best to keep the league and the sport going forever,” Kao said after the game, referring to the departure of iconic slugger Manny Ramirez earlier in the week.
The Rhinos have gone deep four times in the two games they have played without Ramirez.
After Elephants starter Chen Hung-wen gave up a quick run to the Rhinos in the top of the first, the men in yellow claimed the lead with a two-run blast by Chou Si-chi off EDA starter Lai Hong-cheng.
The 2-1 advantage lasted through the third before the Rhinos batted around the order in the decisive fourth to go ahead for good.
Picking up the win was reliever Chen Huan-yang, who entered in the fourth with two outs to rescue Lai with an inning-ending out.
Tagged with the loss was Elephants starter Chen, who lasted only four innings with seven allowed runs on eight hits.
MONKEYS 9, LIONS 6
Also rallying from behind were the Lamigo Monkeys, who erased a five-run deficit with a seven-run fifth to trip up the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
Starter Tseng Jau-hao was credited with the win despite giving up six runs (four earned) over five innings of work to beat his counterpart Jon Leicester, thanks to a potent Primates offense that provided plenty of run support to improve to 5-4 for the year.
Trailing by three, the Lions made it interesting by loading up the bases against Monkeys closer J.D. Durbin with two outs. However, the American righty was able to get Deng Chih-wei on a grounder to second to deny the Lions what would have been an improbable comeback.
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