Kuo Hung-chih’s wild pitch with a runner on third scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth as the Chinatrust Brothers edged past the Uni-President Lions in a 7-6 thriller at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night to clinch the weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
In a contest that featured five lead-changes, the men in the familiar golden uniforms had the final laugh as they rallied from one down three times in the same game to win their first weekend series in nearly a month.
After falling behind by a run in the top of the second, the Brothers quickly answered with three runs of their own off Lions starter Liao Wen-yang to enjoy a 3-1 advantage.
The two-run lead lasted less than two innings as the Cats also showed their resilience by scoring twice in the fourth and fifth to take a 5-4 lead.
After the Brothers rallied to tie the game at 5-all in the bottom of the fifth, the two teams traded a run in the sixth to retie the game at 6-all, a score that lasted into the ninth before Wang Sheng-wei led off the inning with a double and took third on a sacrifice bunt to set up the game-winner.
MONKEYS 7, RHINOS 1 GAME 1
RHINOS 6, MONKEYS 2 GAME 2
The top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys split their day-night doubleheader against the EDA Rhinos by winning the former 7-1 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium before dropping the second 6-2 last night.
Starter Hsu Ming-chieh showed off his experience on the mound by tossing one-run ball, despite giving up seven hits over five frames. Even though he did not pick up the win as the Monkey offense failed to give him the lead in time, his contribution was instrumental as it kept the game close enough for his late-warming offense to plate six unanswered runs to pave the way for game-winner Huang Wei-sheng.
Starring at the plate for the Primates were Lin “Chubby Kid” Hung-yu and Lin Chih-sheng, who homered off Rhinos starter Hsiao Yi-chieh for their team to provide the necessary runs to garner the victory.
In the night game in Taoyuan, the Rhinos rode the red-hot arm of Andy Sisco all the way to victory in a 6-2 affair to salvage a series-split on the day.
The US lefty, who won the Pitcher of the Month honor in April, was on top of his game, striking out nine over seven innings with two allowed runs on four hits to win his eighth of the year.
Doing the damage offensively for the Rhinos was the heart of the order, with Hu Chin-lung and Lin Yi-chuan each belting off three hits on the night and Yang Guan-wei driving in a pair with as many hits.
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