The Lamigo Monkeys returned to winning ways with three big blasts to thrash the Fubon Guardians 9-1 last night, as the battle heated up between the top two teams in the second month of this year’s CPBL campaign.
Needing a victory to save face in front of their home fans at the Taoyuan International Stadium, the Monkeys got all the firepower they needed from shortstop Lin Cheng-fei, who yesterday celebrated his 21st birthday in style.
In the weekend’s three-game homestand in Taoyuan, the Lamigo team fell flat in the first two contests, with the visiting Guardians cranking out the hits to pick up two victories, for a 12-2 result on Friday and a 11-7 scoreline on Saturday.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It was birthday boy Lin who carried the load yesterday, when he first ripped a double in the fourth inning to drive in a run for his team, giving them the lead 4-0.
Then, with bases loaded at the top of the fifth, Lin teed off on Fubon’s third-string pitcher Peng Shih-chieh for a grand slam homer, which increased the Lamigo lead to eight runs.
Both sides later added one run each for the 9-1 final, and Lin was selected as MVP for the game for his 2-for-3 performance with five RBIs on the day.
Second baseman Lin Li and outfielder Lan Yin-lun also clobbered one homer each out of the 11 hits for the Monkeys.
Lamigo starting pitcher Lin Hua-ching also made a major contribution as he pocketed his second win of the season by throwing seven scoreless innings, yielding only six hits and two walks, and striking out four batters.
With the result, Lamigo returned back to top spot with a 7-4 record, just a 1/2 game in front of the Fubon Guardians, while the Uni-President Lions are 1 1/2 games behind in third with a 5-5 record and the Chinatrust Brothers are in bottom place with only three wins in 11 games so far.
Culminating the three-game series at Taipei’s Tianmu Stadium over the weekend, the Uni-President Lions yesterday got a boost from two home runs to defeat the Chinatrust Brothers 10-4.
Third baseman Kuo Fu-lin had a two-run homer in the fourth inning and first baseman Chen Yung-chi also added a two-run shot in the sixth frame to ignite the Lions to move ahead six runs and seize the victory.
The Brothers started out beating the Lions, with a 7-2 win on Friday, but the Lions took two out of three in the series, when they edged out the Chinatrust Brothers 8-7 on Saturday.
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