The Uni-President Lions completed an impressive three-game sweep of the Chinatrust Brothers in northern Taiwan by topping the hosts 4-1 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night.
Wang Ching-ming was rock solid in his sixth start of the season, tossing seven strong innings of one-run ball on six hits to lift the Cats past their foes.
The right-hander took a 3-0 shutout one out into the sixth, before serving up a solo blast to Chen Tzu-hao for the Brothers’ lone run of the game.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
Equally impressive was setup man Kuo Hung-chih, who worked a quick eighth by retiring all three of the hitters he faced on eight pitches for his third hold of the year.
The former major league player has not given up a run in five appearances this season to maintain a perfect ERA of zero.
Trailing by three, Chinatrust made things interesting against Lions closer Warner Madrigal by leading off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single by Huang Shih-hao and they had the tying run at the plate with Chen Chia-chui drawing a walk two batters later, before Madrigal induced back-to-back ground outs to strand both runners and keep the victory intact.
Offensively for the Lions, all but one of the starting lineup had at least a hit on a night they connected for a run in each of the first three innings to provide Wang with enough firepower for his third win this season.
RHINOS 6, MONKEYS 2
The league-leading EDA Rhinos avoided a clean sweep by the Lamigo Monkeys by winning the weekend finale 6-2 at Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung last night.
Lin “the Divine Punch” Yi-chuan’s three-run homer capped a four-run third that broke the game wide open against the Primates, winners of seven of their past eight heading into the game.
The four-run lead provided by the offense proved ample for starter Tsai Ming-jin, who four-hit a potent Monkeys lineup over six shutout frames, before being relieved.
Even though he lost his shutout bid with the Monkeys plating two off Lin Yi-hao in the eighth, he was well on his way to his second win of the season.
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