The Sinon Bulls doubled up on the top-ranked Uni-President Lions 8-4 at the Douliou Baseball Stadium in Yunlin County last night to win their second game of an extremely wet week of play.
After the day game of the day-night doubleheader was canceled due to the wet weather early yesterday afternoon, the Douliou sky finally cleared enough by 5pm to fit in the lone game of the three-game set between the two clubs.
Making sure his team would not end up with a losing record for the week, Sinon starter Lin Chi-wei tossed six innings of one-run ball on a two-hit effort to silence the Lions bats.
Other than an unearned run in the bottom of the first that actually set him back, the fourth-year hurler out of Taipei Physical Education College was virtually unstoppable, with an assortment of pitches that kept the Lions hitters off balance.
Offensively for the Bulls, the 1-0 deficit proved short-lived as they connected on a single and a double off Lions starter Kao Jien-san to plate the equalizer in the top of the third, before Lin Yi-chuan went deep against the veteran right-hander for a two-run shot that put the Bulls 3-1 ahead.
That scoreline remained through the seventh, with neither offense able to score again until the top of the eighth when the Bulls erupted for five runs on as many hits, highlighted by Hsu Guo-long’s two-run blast off Lions reliever Chen Yi-huan as they took a commanding 8-1 lead.
Even though the Lions scored three times in the final two frames, with Chang “OEO” Tai-shan homering in the eighth and Yang Song-hsuan scoring in the ninth, it was too little, too late for the hosts as they fell short to miss a chance to win a club-record 39th win in the first half.
Lin picked up the win, his first against the Lions this season, while the loss was charged to Kao as he fell to an even 1-1 mark for the season.
Elephants 16, Monkeys 2
The Brother Elephants humbled the Lamigo Monkeys in their series finale at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to win the rubber match of their three-game set by a 2-1 margin.
The Elephants avenged a tough loss to the Monkeys in the 10th inning on Saturday night by teeing off against the Lamigo pitching, clubbing 18 hits to leave Taoyuan on a high note.
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