The CTBC Brothers are one win from lifting the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) best-of-seven Taiwan Series trophy after the team secured its third consecutive win against Rakuten Monkeys on Tuesday.
The Brothers outscored the Monkeys 7-2 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium thanks to a good performance by its right-handed starting pitcher Cheng Kai-wen (鄭凱文), who threw 92 pitches over seven innings, allowing only eight hits and two runs.
The Monkeys were able to put runs on the scoreboard as soon as the top of the first inning when left fielder Lan Yin-lun (藍寅倫) hit a ground ball for third base runner Lin li (林立) to score.
The Brothers answered in the bottom frame to even the score 1-1 after first baseman Hsu Chi-hung (許基宏) knocked out an RBI single to center field for second base runner Yueh Cheng-hua (岳政華) to make it back to the home plate.
Another run was added to the Brothers score tally when second baseman Yueh Tung-hua (岳東華) delivered another RBI single to center field for second base runner Wang Wei-chen (王威晨) to score.
After a scoreless third inning, Brothers center fielder Yueh Cheng-hua knocked the ball to left field for an RBI double to see first base runner Yueh Tung-hua return to home plate, bringing the score to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Brothers scoring streak continued in the fifth inning when right fielder Lin Shu-yi (林書逸), catcher (福來喜) Francisco Peña and short stop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) combined to make four runs and extend their lead to 7-1.
The Monkeys were able to score one more run at the top of the seventh inning when right fielder Cheng Chin (成晉) made an RBI single for second base runner Chen Chen-wei (陳晨威) to score and reduce the gap to 7-2.
At the post-game press conference, Brothers head coach Lin Wei-chu (林威助) said apart from the two runs, starting pitcher Cheng Kai-wen threw very well.
I want to tell my players we need four victories to win the championship, so let’s take our fourth win tomorrow and then we will reach our goal,” Lin said.
The Taiwan Series, the CPBL championship series, continues with Game 4 on Wednesday at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium. The Brothers need to win just one more game to take the series.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel