The EDA Rhinos last night clinched the CPBL Taiwan Series in dramatic fashion, coming from behind to score three runs in the ninth inning of Game 6 against the Brothers Baseball Club to win 4-3 and seal their first championship title in the team’s four-year history.
The Rhinos were trailing for most of the game and were still behind 3-1 at the start of the ninth inning, but their hitters put together a late rally of four hits and one walk, and took advantage of an opposition fielding error to push three runs home, reversing the deficit and taking the 4-3 lead.
It was a bittersweet series victory for the Rhinos, since this is their first CPBL title, and will be their only one. E United Group, the club’s parent company, put the team up for sale earlier this year. Fubon Financial Holdings last month announced it would purchase the club for NT$300 million (US$9.48 million at current exchange rates.)
Photo: CNA
The new owners and EDA executives celebrated the hard-earned championship trophy with the players. Fubon will officially take over the franchise on Tuesday.
For the Brothers, it was another disappointing end to a post-season, after they also lost the Taiwan Series finals in 2014 and last year.
The Brothers got on the board first in the opening frame, when with two men on base, Chiang Chih-hsien drilled a shot off EDA starter Jared Lansford over the outfield wall for a three-run homer.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Rhinos battled back to get one run in the fourth inning against the Brothers’ left-handed pitcher Nick Additon to make it 3-1, and it remained that way until the ninth inning.
The Brothers’ fans were on the edge of their seats throughout the late innings as they anticipated a win, which would have forced the series to a Game 7 decider.
However, at the top of the ninth frame the Rhinos pummeled Brothers’ closer Chen Hung-wen for consecutive hits by outfielder Lin Che-hsuan and pinch-hitter Chang Chien-ming.
One out later, hits by Kao Hsiao-yi and Lin Wei-ting tied up the game, then catcher Lin Kun-sheng slapped a bouncer that was mishandled by Brothers first baseman Peng Cheng-min for EDA to get three runs and go in front.
In the bottom of the ninth frame, EDA had left-handed closer Huang Sheng-hsiung took the mound to shut the door, and he got two outs before Brothers outfielder Chang Cheng-wei stroked a fly ball. EDA outfielder Lin Che-hsuan made a fantastic diving catch, and everyone thought it was end of the game, with the Rhinos players rushing out on to the field to celebrate.
However, the umpire reviewed video footage and ruled that the ball bounced, calling everyone back to their dugouts. Huang then got the third out on a grounder for a force-out at second to clinch the championship title.
“Our players were outstanding through this series, they had lots of pressure on, but always found a way to win,” EDA head coach Yeh Chun-chang said after the game. “Although we were behind in several games, I firmly believed we could come back. They did it today once again, so I gave them all the credit.”
Outfielder Lin Che-hsuan, who was selected as the MVP for the series and was overcome by emotion, said: “We did it. Most people had written us off this season, but we had confidence in ourselves and we won the title.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats