The CTBC Brothers completed a four-game sweep of the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s (CPBL) Taiwan Series Wednesday, outscoring the Rakuten Monkeys 3-2 to take home the championship trophy for the second consecutive year.
Thousands of yellow streamers showered the stands at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium as the Brothers secured back-to-back titles after winning the first four games of this year’s best-of-seven Taiwan Series, the 33rd edition of the championship.
The win also marks the ninth time the Brothers have won the title, following victories in 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, and 2021.
Wednesday’s game four was played in front of a capacity crowd of 20,000 fans, who saw the Brothers tally a total of nine hits to the Monkeys five.
Brothers right-handed starting pitcher Wu Che-yuan (吳哲源) also delivered a strong performance with six strikeouts, while giving up five hits and one home run, in 91 pitches over seven innings.
The Brothers started to put numbers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when short stop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) knocked the ball out to left field off Monkeys starting pitcher Wang Yi-cheng (王溢正) for an RBI single for second base runner Yueh Cheng-hua (岳政華) to score.
The Monkeys answered in the top of the second to level the score with a homer that flew high over right field from designated hitter Liao Chien-fu (廖健富).
In the bottom of the second, Brothers second baseman Yueh Tung-hua (岳東華) delivered an RBI single to right field for third base runner Wang Wei-chen (王威晨) to return to the home plate and take his team back in the lead.
The score was extended to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth after Brothers catcher Francisco Peña (福來喜) knocked out a ground ball for third base runner Sung Sheng-jui (宋晟睿) to score.
In the top of the eighth, Monkeys center fielder Chen Chen-wei (陳晨威) hit a ground ball for third base runner Kuo Yung-wei (郭永維) to score and narrow the gap to 3-2.
However, the Monkeys failed to score in the top of the ninth, meaning the Brothers secured the championship win for the second consecutive year.
Wu was named the game’s MVP, while his teammate Yueh Cheng-hua was crowned this year’s Taiwan Series MVP.
Brothers manager Lin Wei-chu (林威助) said after the game that it felt good to win the championship in front of a full crowd in his hometown of Taichung.
“Thank you to the fans for the support you have shown our players, who went through some low points but ultimately achieved the goal of winning the championship,” Lin said.
The CPBL, which was formed in 1989 and currently consists of five teams, is the top tier of professional baseball in Taiwan. The other teams in the league are the Wei Chuan Dragons, Fubon Guardians, and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel