By Jason Pan, in Chinese Taipei
The Lamigo Monkeys downed the Brother Elephants 8-6 in an intense encounter over the weekend, to clinch the 2nd-half title in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
With this victory, the Lamigo team holds an unassailable 5-game lead over the 2nd place Elephants, and earned the finalist berth to the championship Taiwan Series, up against the 1st-half titlist Uni-President Lions.
Through an early outburst, the Monkey hitters stacked up 7 runs by the top of 3rd inning, but the Elephant responded with 5 runs in the bottom of 3rd to make it a close game.
Both teams got one more run to make it 8-6 at the end of 5th inning, and thereafter relief pitchers snuff out several scoring threats in this tense affair, and kept a blank sheet the rest of the way.
Foreign help played a big role, as Lamigo’s American righty Mike Loree started the game to get the win, while his U.S. compatriot Paul Phillips as closer shut the door in the final two frames, and was on the mound to record the final groundout.
Lamigo’s outfielder Tsan Chih-Yao and DH Lin Hong-Yu each had 2 RBIs on 3 hits to pace their team to victory.
“We had to fight all the way to capture this half-season title. Our pitcher came through for us down the stretch with their consist performance. Overall, it was a whole team effort and I’m proud of the players’ efforts,” said Lamigo team manager Hong Yi-Chung as he savors the win in the post-game press interview.
Photo – Lamigo Monkey players celebrate clinching the 2nd-half title
