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10/17/2003 Archived Entry: "Taiwan Baseball News: Bulls Force Game 6 in a Dramatic Comeback Victory"
Taiwan Baseball News: Bulls Force Game 6 in a Dramatic Comeback Victory
By Paul Huang
Unlike their fearless rally that fell one run short in Game 4 of the 2003 Taiwan Series against the Brother Elephants, the Sinon Bulls overcame a two-run deficit to win Game 5 of the series by a score of 5-4 in Kaohsiung.
Facing elimination, the Bulls relied on a late-surging offense that tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth, before center fielder Tseng Hua-wei・s ninth-inning liner barely cleared the outstretched glove of Elephant shortstop Chen Rei-cheng to bring home the game-winner.
The game began with the Elephants jumping to a three-run lead against Bull starter Jeff Andra in the top of the first, getting tremendous production from the heart of the order. Center fielder Chen Chih-yuan・s drove a pitch into the left-center gap for his fifth double of the series before cleanup man Peng Cheng-ming・s two-run homer off Andra brought home both players. Elephant first baseman Tsai Fong-an would add another solo blast to deep left to chase Andra for good.
On the verge of a possible blowout, in what could be the last game of the season, Bull skipper Chen Wei-cheng immediately went with reliever Ramon Morel, his normal closer to limit the damage at three runs.
The score would remain 3-0 in favor of the defending champs until the bottom of the fourth, when Bulls third baseman Chang Tai-shan knocked in leadoff man Tseng Hua-wei all the way from first with a standup double off Elephant starter Nakagomi Sin to make it 3-1. With Chang on second, the next batter Cheng Jau-han belted a clean single to left for what appeared to be the Bulls・ second run of the game with Cheng advancing to second on the throw.
A controversial call by first base umpire Su Chien-wen claiming that Cheng had missed the bag while rounding first led to the ruling of the inning・s third out, thus nullified the run scored. The call sent a livid Chen Wei-cheng running onto the field in protest. Several unpleasant exchanges between Chen and Su would lead to Chen・s ejection, after he had thrown his cap and a punch at Su in obvious anger.
Chen・s ejection seemed to light some fire in his team・s confidence as the Bulls held the powerful Elephant lineup to only one more run for the remainder of the game, setting the stage for the Bulls・ dramatic comeback.
After back-to-back singles by Tseng Hua-wei and designated hitter Chen Tsung-fu, Chang Tai-shan struck again in the bottom of the sixth with another one-out single off Sin to make it 4-2.
The Bulls・ rally continued in the eighth, as the heart of the order came through again with two more runs to tie the game at four-all. Chang Tai-shan drew a walk off Elephant reliever Yokota Hisanori, after Yokota had collecting two quick outs to start the eighth. Putting his costly base-running error behind, Cheng Jau-han smothered a breaking ball from Yokota to shallow-left for a run-scoring triple and was brought home by first baseman Chueh Shu-mu・s game-tying single on the next play.
Riding on the momentum that had turned their way by then, the Bulls led off the ninth with a ：lucky slip； by Elephant catcher Chen Rei-chang, who failed to come up with Yokota・s third-strike splitter to allow batter Yeh Jung-chang to reach first. Pinch runner Chang Jia-hao was safe at second on a sacrifice bunt by right fielder Kao Chien-lung to set up Tseng・s game-winner.
The Elephants will play host in Game 6 at Tienmu on Saturday in an attempt to wrap up its fourth championship trophy in a row.
