Game 2 of the Taiwan Series in Taipei yesterday followed pretty much the same script as the series opener, with a low scoring game before the Rakuten Monkeys capitalized on a four-run 11th inning to take the win 4-0 and tie the series.
The two teams had difficulty scoring runs in the first 10 innings mainly courtesy of the their starting pitchers.
With 10,000 fans turning out for a second straight day, Wei Chuan Dragons’ Jacob Daniel Brigham and Monkeys’ Huang Tzu-peng (黃子鵬) each served up eight scoreless innings with 93 pitches, yielding three and five hits, respectively.
Photo: CNA
The turning point in the game came in the top of the 11th when Wang Wei-chung (王維中) took to the mound.
After striking out Chen Chen-wei (陳辰威) first, Wang walked Lin Li (林立) and suffered a blow from Liang Chia-jung’s (梁家榮) double that put the Monkeys on the board.
The Monkeys then collected three hits in a row and one more walk as well as a strikeout before Wang was pulled from the mound.
Wang recorded four earned runs while retiring only two batters.
Asked to comment on the chaotic frame, Dragons manager Ye Jun-zhang (葉君璋) said he noticed that Wang throws pitches with more confidence when Liu Shih-hao (劉時豪) is behind the home plate, but he chose to believe in Wang and did not make the change.
Ye praised the Monkeys for fixing problems quickly overnight and said that is something the young Dragons should learn from, but added he thought the team performed well overall despite the loss.
The victory was the first Taiwan Series win for Rakuten Monkeys manager Zeng Hao-ju (曾豪駒), who praised Huang’s progress over the past year.
Huang’s strong outing helped not only himself but also his teammates, according to Liang.
“We saw the great performance of our starting pitcher, persevering, and that made the whole team want to help him,” said the batting average leader of the 2023 regular season.
Huang’s outstanding night also earned him the praise of broadcaster Chen Chieh-sheng (陳捷盛), who pointed out yesterday’s game was Huang’s best ever performance in the Taiwan Series.
The 29-year-old right-hander had played eight games in the Taiwan Series with a 9.58 ERA prior to yesterday, giving up 11 runs over 10 1/3 innings pitched.
He only started once in Game 3 last year against the CTBC Brothers, in which he yielded six runs in a 4 1/3 inning-stint.
Meanwhile, this is the first time in CPBL history that the Taiwan Series had extra innings in the first two games and the third time the league has seen back-to-back extra innings in the series.
Both of the other times involved the Uni-President 7- Eleven Lions and the CTBC Brothers (then Brother Elephants) and took place in 2001 and 2009.
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