Five quick runs over the first two innings set the tone early for the EDA Rhinos as they held off a late-game rally by the Uni-President Lions to run away with a 6-4 win at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night to take Game 2 of the weekend series.
The win kept the Rhinos unbeaten at 2-0 in the second half as they look to gather some momentum after a disappointing first half in which they went 26-1-33 to finish No. 3 in the standings.
Cheng Hung-da’s leadoff homer off Lions starter Shairon Martis gave the Rhinos a 1-0 advantage, which they doubled in the same inning when Hu Chin-lung singled and scored off a double by Yang Guan-wei two outs later.
Photo: CNA
The lead stretched to 5-0 in the bottom of the second with the Rhinos cashing in on defensive miscues by the Lions, scoring a run off a sacrifice bunt attempt by Lin Wei-ting, before Cheng and Hu drove in another run each with singles off Martis that knocked off the Lions starter after two innings.
Reliever Chiang Cheng-fong tossed three scoreless innings to give the Lions offense a chance to score twice in the third off starter Huang Sheng-hsiung that made it 5-2, before Luo Kuo-lung’s RBI single and a disastrous error by the Rhinos defense led to a pair of runs that made it 5-4 in the top of the seventh.
Fortunately for the Rhinos, Yang connected for his fourth home run of the season, a solo blast off Lions reliever Fu Yu-kang in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4.
That was as close as the Lions got against the Rhinos bullpen, with Esmerling Vasquez pitching a shutout eighth after getting his team out of trouble with an inning-ending out in the seventh, and closer Luis Viscaino keeping a scoreless ninth to preserve the win for Huang.
Tagged with the loss was Martis, his first of the season. He is now 4-1 with an ERA of 2.56.
BROTHERS 9, MONKEYS 7
The Chinatrust Brothers struck nine runs in the top of the seventh to take a 9-1 lead and held on to defeat the Lamigo Monkeys at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night.
Homers by Huang Shih-hao and Chen Chih-hung highlighted the seventh, which blew a 1-0 game wide open. The seemingly safe 9-1 lead proved barely sufficient for the visiting Brothers, as the Primates countered with six unanswered runs over the final three innings to make it a two-run game.
Starter Chen Hung-wen was credited with the win, while the loss went to the Monkeys’ Chen Yu-hsun.
POPCORN LEAGUE
A pair of runs in the eighth and another couple in the ninth turned a 6-4 deficit into an 8-6 win for the National Sports Training Center over Taipower as they won Game 1 of the Videoland Challenge Series at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night.
Su Wei-da’s sacrifice fly with runners at the corners broke a 6-all tie in the top of the ninth to give the Sports Trainers the lead for good after they had led by as many as three early in the game and trailed for nearly the rest of it.
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