The CTBC Brothers last night beat the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 6-4 in Game 4 of the Taiwan Series at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Lions’ second home game was the first in the series to feature Taiwanese starting pitchers, Tainan’s Kuo Chun-lin and the Brothers’ Cheng Kai-wen.
Fearing a rerun of Tuesday night’s massacre, the Lions in the bottom of the first inning quickly answered the Brothers’ first two runs, with left fielder Chiu Chih-cheng scoring off a double from center fielder Chen Chieh-hsien, while Chen scored off a fly ball from designated hitter Lin An-ko, who in turn was sent across home plate by an RBI from catcher Lin Dai-an.
Photo courtesy of the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions via CNA
Kuo did not allow a hit in the next two innings, until third baseman Wang Wei-chen tied it 3-3 in the fourth, which designated hitter Chen Tzu-hao followed with a home run in the top of the fifth to take the lead.
The Lions woes worsened in the sixth inning. Shortly after Dominican pitcher Hector Perez took the mound to relieve Lin Shao-en, Brothers’ center fielder Yueh Cheng-hua hit a fly ball to right field, sending in two to stretch their lead to 6-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, second baseman Lin Tzu-chieh added another run with an RBI that sent in Lin An-ko.
Game 5 starts tomorrow at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
On Tuesday night, the Brothers dominated the Lions 10-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Both franchises are competing in their 16th Taiwan Series, having split their league-most six head-to-head matchups before this season.
At a post-game news conference, both managers said Tuesday’s sixth inning was the turning point, when the Lions failed to capitalize on bases loaded with only one out.
“I think we still had a chance offensively. We just couldn’t get a clutch hit in that key inning. It might have been a different story if we had,” Lions manager Lin Yueh-ping said.
Their woes started in third inning, when the Brothers took a 3-0 lead, partly due to starting pitcher Logan Ondrus’ control issues, which included allowing a bases-loaded walk.
Tainan also struggled at the plate, recording just one hit in the first five innings off Kirk McCarty. Their best opportunity came in the bottom of the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out with veteran Chen Yung-chi at bat.
The Brothers emerged unscathed, replacing McCarty with Lu Yen-chiang and drawing Chen into a double play. Lu was later named Most Valuable Player of the game.
Brothers manager Keiichi Hirano praised 28-year-old lefty Lu as the most reliable arm in the bullpen.
“We put him on the mound knowing we couldn’t have done better even if he gave up a hit, and he lived up to our expectations,” Hirano said.
The game shifted decisively in the seventh inning, when Tseng Song-en hit a three-run homer, extending the Brothers’ lead to 7-0.
As of Tuesday, Tseng was batting .462 in the series with six hits, including two home runs.
According to CPBL records, teams who have taken a 2-1 lead in the Taiwan Series have won the championship eight out of 13 times.
However, apart from the Brothers’ sweep in 2021, each series between the two teams has gone to at least six games.
“In the face of strong opponents like the Lions, we will always approach the series as challengers, no matter what,” Hirano said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS