Homers by Chien Fu-chih paved the way as the Brother Elephants humbled the Lamigo Monkeys in a 4-1 final at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night to split the rain-shortened weekend series at one apiece.
The fourth-year outfielder out of Tainan’s Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, who had never homered prior to last night’s contest, erupted for two blasts off Monkeys starter Tseng Jau-hao to account for all four of his team’s runs on the night; a double in the top of the fifth that broke a scoreless tie, followed by a sequel two innings later that knocked Tseng out of the game.
“It’s been a long wait for [the first home run], and I am glad it helped our team win the game,” Chien said after the game.
He was voted the game MVP.
The Primates managed to get one of the runs back in the bottom of the seventh, courtesy of a pinch-hit single by Hung Chen-yu that broke up the shutout bid for Elephants starter Lin “Little Chick” En-yu. However, the outcome of the game was never in doubt as the Brother bullpen retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth to preserve the victory for Lin.
The win upped his record to 2-1, while dropping his earned run average to 3.22 as he turned in seven strong innings of one-run ball in his second straight quality start.
Taking the loss was Tseng, winless at 0-2 with four allowed runs (three earned) on nine hits in 6-1/3 innings of work.
In the night’s other game, the EDA Rhinos beat the Uni-President Lions 5-4.
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