The Lamigo Monkeys doubled up on the Sinon Bulls in a 4-2 decision at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon in their season opener thanks to a four-run second powered by Kuo Yen-wen’s three-run blast.
The second baseman out of Tainan’s Nan Ying Vocational High School, who spent three seasons in the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league system before returning to Taiwan two years ago, got hold of an offering from Sinon starter Lin Chi-wei and deposited it over the left field wall for an opposite-field homer to put his team ahead 3-0.
Fellow outfielder Hsieh Hsuan-ren followed with an RBI double two outs later in the same inning to account for all the runs the Monkeys scored in the game.
Spotted an early 4-0 lead, starter Ken Ray pitched shutout ball through the fifth in a three-hit effort, before he was relieved in the sixth after giving up a run on a leadoff triple and a run-scoring single.
Down by three with time -running out, the Bulls mustered one final run in the ninth off Lamigo closer Hsu Ming-jeh, but it was too little, too late as they fell short by a couple in a losing cause.
Ray was credited with the win for allowing a run on five hits over 5-1/3 frames, while the loss went to Lin, who was responsible for all four of the Monkey runs in just 3-1/3 innings of work.
LIONS 6, ELEPHANTS 2
The Uni-President Lions also put up four runs in the second inning on the strength of a two-run shot by Kuo Jung-yo and a slew of walks off reliever Lu Shou-yu that led to a pair of runs to baffle the Brother Elephants 6-2 at the -Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City last night.
The win not only put the Cats into the win column, but also avenged an opening day loss to the Elephants for the defending champs.
Yuya Kamada of Japan pitched well into the seventh in a shutout bid to pick up the win in his Taiwan debut, even though his mates in the bullpen were unable to keep the shutout intact.
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
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