Kuo Dai-yong's walk-off single with the bases loaded scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th for the Chinatrust Whales as they edged past the Macoto Cobras in a 5-4 final in Tianmu on Saturday evening.
The veteran Whales outfielder took advantage of a wild Hsu Chu-jien, the Cobras' fourth pitcher in the game, who started off the inning with back-to-back walks before giving up a single to right to fill the bags. Kuo crushed a fastball down the middle for the game-winner.
With the nation focusing its attention on the Whales' off-field troubles, which involved at least five players in a game-fixing scandal, they managed to find a way to pull off a win with a lineup that was missing five of its regular starters to momentarily restore their fan's confidence in the game.
Carlos Villalobos' two-run homer off Cobras starter Chang Hsien-chih in the bottom of the first quickly put the Whales ahead 2-0 before they doubled the lead with Wang Hsin-min's solo blast to deep-center and Hsu Ren-jeh's one-run double to make it 4-0 in their favor.
Neither squad would score for the next four innings with Chang retiring all but one hitter during the stretch and Whales starter Nee Fu-deh throwing shutout ball on his part until the top of the seventh, when the Cobras erupted for four runs to even things up at 4-4.
The game would carry into the extra innings after a scoreless eighth and ninth with both teams' bullpens keeping the opposing hitters in check until Hsu's wildness at the death ultimately cost the Cobras the game against a patched-up Whales.
Elephants 4, Bears 6
Andrew Lorraine tossed six innings of two-run ball and Lin Chih-sheng homered and drove in three runs to lead the La New Bears in a 6-4 win over the Brother Elephants in Kaohsiung on Saturday for their fifth win in six tries.
The US southpaw newcomer matched his Taiwan debut that netted him a big win on Aug. 8 with another quality start, allowing a pair of runs on seven hits in six frames to up his record to 2-0, while Lin went two-for-three with three RBIs to account for half his team's total run production in the victory.
Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min's RBI single off Lorraine in the top of the first gave the visitors an early 1-0 advantage only to see the Bears answer with two runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning.
The Bears would add another run in the third on a wild pitch by reliever Chuang Wei-chuan with runners at the corners before the Elephants countered with their second run of the night to keep it a one-run game at 3-2.
Lin's monster swing that deposited the ball well into the right field stands for a two-run, opposite-field home run promptly upped the Bears lead to 5-2 before they struck again in the seventh to make it 6-2.
Trailing by four with the heart of the order due up in the top of the ninth, the Elephants would score twice, with four singles and a walk against Bears closer Tsai Ying-fong.
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