The Lamigo Monkeys pulled off a clean sweep in their three-game home stand against the EDA Rhinos by taking the finale 8-6 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to claim sole possession of the lead in the standings.
Lin Chih-sheng’s three-run homer in the bottom of the second gave the Primates a 7-2 advantage which the Rhinos managed to reduce to as few as a lone run in the fourth when Chang Chien-ming doubled and scored on Kao Kuo-hui’s RBI single off Lamigo reliever Tseng Meng-cheng to make it 7-6.
That was as close as the Rhinos got as the Monkeys’ bullpen did its job by shutting down the Rhinos offense from the fifth inning with five innings of scoreless relief to give Tseng just his second victory of the season.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Trailing by two, the Rhinos had their best scoring opportunity against the stellar Monkeys bullpen in the top of the ninth with Hu Chin-lung bounced a chopper through short to bring the tying run to the plate against Lamigo reliever Chen Yu-hsun, but the Primates had the last laugh when shortstop Kuo Yung-wei made a spectacular diving stop on a chopper up the middle by Chang Yung-han, which would have advanced the runner to third, for what ended up being the game-ending out.
BROTHERS 6, LIONS 5
Hsieh Jung-hao tossed eight innings of three-hit ball and Jim Negrych drove in a pair of runs as the Chinatrust Brothers held off a late rally by the Uni-President Lions to escape with a 6-5 victory at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium last night.
It was the first win of the season for the Brothers starter after he came up short on all five of his previous starts, despite two where he allowed three or fewer earned runs over at least six innings of play.
“I am really glad [the win] finally came,” Hsieh said after the game.
Even though one of the three hits he allowed was a three-run homer, his gutsy effort still earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player honor.
Jaime Pedroza’s sacrifice fly following Negrych’s two-run double off Lions starter Wang Ching-ming in the top of the first spotted Hsieh a three-run lead before the Brothers starter faced his first batter of the game.
Hsieh retired all nine of the Lions batters he faced over three perfect frames, before serving up a three-run blast to Kao Kuo-ching in the fourth that tied the game at 3-3.
After a scoreless fifth, the men in the golden uniforms struck again against Wang in the sixth by stringing together three straight two-out singles to plate three, chasing the Lions starter.
The three-run sixth proved just sufficient for the visitors to claim the victory as they held off a ninth-inning rally by the Cats, as Kuo Dai-chi hit a two-run homer off closer Chen Hung-wen, before stranding the potential tying run to end the game.
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