Homers filled the sky over Tainan on Wednesday evening as the Uni-President Lions and La New Bears combined for five long balls on a night that ended in a sweet 9-3 win for the Cats.
Liu Fu-hao and Jose Castillo led the way for the Lions with a pair of two-run shots, the former breaking a 1-1 tie in the fourth, and the latter putting the Lions ahead for good in the fifth. The basing tandem of the Lions would end up with perfect three-for-three hitting, each with six combined RBIs to account for the bulk of the Lions total run production.
Also starring for the Lions was game-winner Lin Cheng-fong, who came out of the bullpen in the second inning with minimal warm-up to relieve an injured Lee Wei-hua. He held the Bears to a run on two hits through the fifth en route to his second win of the season.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taking the mound for the Bears was starter Hsu Wen-hsiung, who continued to struggle against the Lions as he lasted just four-and-two-third innings, with five allowed runs on six hits and four walks to lose his fourth game in seven starts against the Cats this year.
Offensively for the Bears, Chen Chin-fong led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run to up his season total to 20, joining fellow slugger Lin Chih-sheng as the only two players with 20 or more homers in the league this season.
Newcomer Jacob Cruz also made his presence felt by connecting for two homers, both solo shots off the Lions’ Kao Jien-san and Hsu Yu-wei, to give the American three dingers in the dozen games he has played.
The win by the Lions ended a dreadful five-game slide as they looked to keep pace with the Bears.
ELEPHANTS 7, BULLS 6
Three errors by the defense in the bottom of the ninth proved costly for the Sinon Bulls as they dropped a heartbreaker to the Brother Elephants 7-6 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Tuesday night.
The classic seesaw battle featured four different lead changes and saw the visiting Bulls skid ahead 4-0 in the top of the second on the strength of three singles and a double, before the Elephants fought back with five unanswered runs over the next three innings.
Chen Chih-wei’s RBI single in the sixth would tie the game up at 5-5, before the Bulls went ahead 6-5 in the top of the ninth from Lin Yi-chuen’s solo home run off Elephants reliever Wang Jing-li.
The Elephants, however, capitalized on the Bulls’ defensive errors that led to two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth to give them their fourth win in a row.
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