The Chinatrust Brothers surprised the second-placed EDA Rhinos with a 2-1 victory in the day game of a scheduled day-night doubleheader at the Hualien County Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to close out the drenched weekend on a high.
Cheng Kai-wen went the distance for coach Wu Fu-lien, who replaced his predecessor Hsieh Chang-hen last week by tossing one-run on six hits to pick up win No. 6 of the year.
He took a 2-0 shutout one out into the ninth before serving up back-to-back base hits to set up Lin Kuen-sheng’s sacrifice fly with runners on second and third for the Rhinos’ lone run of the game.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Trailing by a run, the Rhinos had one final chance to tie the game with a runner in scoring position against Cheng, but the right-hander out of the Chinese Culture University was able to retire Yang Kuan-wei on a lazy popup to second to seal the deal.
“It’s great to be able to pick up the sixth win of the season after missing a great chance last week,” Cheng said after the game.
He wasted a golden opportunity in his last start against the top-of-the-table Lamigo Monkeys on May 16 in which he allowed an unearned run over seven effective innings, but was forced to settle for a no-decision due to an anemic Brothers offense which only managed to plate one run.
The Brothers wasted little time in the Taiwan debut for Rhinos right-hander Chuckie Fick by connecting on back-to-back two-out base hits by Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min and Chou Si-chi to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The lead proved more than ample for Cheng, who retired all but two of the 23 batters he faced through the seventh in his gutsiest performance of the year.
Tagged with his first loss of the season was Fick, who cruised through the fourth without further damage before being pulled. He allowed two runs on six hits, while fanning one and walking two.
The second game was postponed after 2-1/3 innings of play by heavy rain with the Brothers leading 3-1.
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