Chang Ming-yen’s pinch-hit three-run homer off Tsai Ming-chin broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, as the Brother Elephants blanked the EDA Rhinos 5-0 at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
The win not only evened the weekend series at one win apiece after the Elephants dropped the opener by a 16-4 margin on Friday night, but also gave them sole possession of the lead in the standings. They enjoy a one-game cushion over the second-place Rhinos in a tight race for the second-half title.
The showdown between the top two clubs in the league lived up to its billing as neither team managed to score against the effective pitching of both starters — Chen Hung-wen of the Elephants and Yang Chien-fu of the Rhinos. The former fanned seven over five scoreless innings, while the latter scattered four hits over the same span in a classic pitchers’ duel.
However, things turned sour for the Rhinos after Yang was relieved by Chen Huan-yang in the bottom of the sixth as the men in yellow placed two on with a single by Chou Si-chi and a drawn walk by Wang Sheng-wei to set the scene for Chang’s game-turning swing.
Leading 3-0, the Elephants increased their advantage by two in the seventh with back-to-back run-scoring singles by Huang Shih-hao and Wang off reliever Lin Chi-wei to put the game out of reach.
Picking up the victory was Guan Da-yuan, who followed Chen Hung-wen’s suit with two strong innings of one-hit relief to improve to 6-3 for the year.
The loss was charged against Chen Huan-yang, who was responsible for two of the three runs that the Elephants scored in the decisive sixth.
MONKEYS 7, LIONS 6
The Lamigo Monkeys made it two wins in a row by edging past the Uni-President Lions in a 7-6 decision at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium last night, thanks to a tie-breaking single by Yu Teh-lung that scored the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.
It was only fitting that Yu also saved the day for the Monkeys with a diving catch in shallow-left with the tying run on second for the game-ending out.
The Primates put up five quick runs over the first three innings to build an early 5-0 cushion, but allowed the Lions to come right back and actually fell behind 6-5 in the sixth, before scoring two unanswered runs to escape with the narrow victory.
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
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