It’s Tuesday so welcome back to the CPBL weekly round up by me, Thomas Jellis. There were another great week of baseball just lets jump straight into it.

Uni Lions v CTBC Brothers – Tues/Wed

Tuesday’s game saw Donn Roach take on Huang En Sih and once again Roach would struggle in his 4th CPBL start. The Lions took a first inning lead but it didn’t last long, Roach conceding 8 between the 2nd and top of the 5th. It left the hitters a lot to do. 4 runs back in later innings were not enough despite the Lions bullpen shutting out Brothers the rest of the way, final score: Lions 5 Brothers 8.

Wednesday’s game started well for Uni Lions with Kuo Fu Lin’s HR and a Chen Chieh Hsien RBI giving them a 2-0 lead that wouldn’t last long. Brothers responded by whacking 6 off veteran Pan Wei Lun. Kuo came back with another HR only for Brothers to score 10 unanswered runs across the next 3 innings to lead 16-4. The sides would exchange 2 runs in the 7th and the Lions pulled 2 more back in the 8th, it was nothing but a consolation on a sorry night for the Lions pitchers. Wang Wei Chen took home game MVP with 5 hits, 4 RBI and 3 runs off 6 plate appearances. Final score: Lions 8 Brothers 18.

Fubon Guardians v Rakuten Monkeys – Thurs in Taoyuan

Just one game in this series as Bryan Woodall faced off against Justin Nicolino. Woodall lasted 2.2 as he gave up 5 runs in a painful third and Rakuten extended it to a 6-0 lead an inning later.

Incredibly Fubon came fighting back, 1 in the 5th and 5 in the 6th inning to tie the game at 6-6 and with that Nicolino exited the game. So 6-6 and all to play for until Luo Guo Hua began the 7th inning conceding 2 runs without an out, Lin Yi Hao cleared up and the Monkeys held an 8-6 lead. In the top of the 8th Fubon had an amazing chance. They loaded the bases with 1 out only for Monkeys pitcher Chen Yu Hsun to escape the jam without giving anything else away. This was to prove fatal…

Fan Yu Yu immediately started giving away hits and runs. He was left in the game for 43 pitches, getting one out with 8H, 7R, 1BB and 2WP. His replacement a 2nd baseman Chen Kai Lun threw one pitch and got a double play. No further runs in the game. Final score: Guardians 6 Monkeys 15.

Uni Lions v Fubon Guardians – Weekend series.

Friday

This game was the first night fans were allowed back in the stadiums in Taiwan and it proved to be an entertaining clash. Lions took a 2-0 lead in the third against Chen Shih Peng who usually starts well v the Lions. Ryan Feierabend went scoreless until the 5th when Chiang Chih Hsien hit a home run to make it 2-1. Puzzlingly Feierabend didn’t make it out again despite only throwing 77 pitches and the Lions bullpen had a 5-2 advantage that became 7-2 after 7. A bases loaded Chen Chong Yu sac fly made it 7-3 and Chen Yung Chi smashed a 3 run homer make it 7-6 in the top of the 8th. There was to be no stirring finish as Fubon held on. Final score: Lions 7 Guardians 8.

Saturday

Josh Roenicke started his first CPBL game for Uni Lions this season and retired 7 straight to start. He then followed this up giving up 7 over the 3rd to 5th inning stretch. Chiang Kuo Hao would have another sensational outing for Fubon Guardians lasting a full 8 innings conceding 6 hits and a run in the 4th and 8th whilst the hitters stayed at 7.

With the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the 9th, two sac flies followed. No further runs and Fubon easily held on. Final score: Lions 4 Guardians 7.

Sunday

This was my first game as fan and Uni Lions took a six losing streak into the final game of the series. The match up was identical to the previous Sunday with Shih Tzu Chien facing You Ting Wei. The score almost ended up identical too. The form hitter Kao Kuo Lin blasted his third 2 run homer of the weekend in the bottom of the 1st but that’s all the damage Fubon would do.

Lin An Ko’s 2nd inning bomb to deep centre kick started the Lions evening. With the bases loaded 19 year olds Lin Ching Kai and Chiu Chih Cheng hit RBIs to put Uni Lions 3-2 up. Lin would hit the first of six consecutive hits to start the 5th as Lions opened up an 8-2 lead. Fubon would get the three outs but not before conceding a 9th run and Lin Ching Kai made his 2nd hit of the inning. They’d be one further run in the top of the 9th, Uni Lions snapping a 6 game losing streak with 17 hits in a 10-2 win.

Rakuten Monkeys v CTBC Brothers – Weekend Series

Friday

As at Xinzhuang, fans were allowed into see this, the match-up between Taiwan’s two most teams. Ryan Carpenter v Ariel Miranda was never going to be a high scoring game and so it proved. Lin Hung Yu made it advantage Carpenter in the 3rd only for Wang Wei Chen’s run and Su Wei Da’s RBI to give Brothers a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 6th. Miranda went off and the Brothers bullpen held off the visitors for the next 3. Su Wei Da hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th and Brothers held a 5 run advantage. The last time Miranda had started Brothers had given up a 5 run lead in the 9th. 3 RBIs in 3 ABs made it 6-4 with 1 out but closer CC Lee recovered, struck out the next two and the game was won. Monkeys 4 Brothers 6.

Saturday

Monkeys v Brothers games are never short of drama and this was no exception. The home side took a 1-0 lead in the first but then things went wrong… Starter Esmil Rogers had control issues and then hit Liao Chien Fu with a throw to 1st. Liao was stretched off and Rogers ejected for foul language. In the midst of this Rakuten went 5-1 up and would not squander it. Lisalverto Bonila’s wild pitch allowed Brothers to score a 2nd run in the 6th followed by an RBI from Chan Tzu Hsien to make it 5-3. The visitors held firm, Bonila was held at 6IP and 90 pitches and the bullpen held the lead. Monkeys would score late on and it would finish Monkeys 6 Brothers 3.

Sunday

Sunday’s game was started by two pitchers with contrasting fortunes. Wang Yi Cheng with a 3-0 record against Jose DePaula with an 0-4 one. This game went the way of the form book although when DePaula left after 5, Brothers only trailed 2-1. Chu Yu Hsien and Lan Yin Lun put Monkeys 5-1 ahead with the game entering the bottom of the 7th. Wang Yi Cheng carried on pitching until the 2 out by which time it was 5-3, a further run made it 5-4.

On an evening where Rakuten Monkeys would only make 5 hits they didn’t even have to worry about their bullpen. A double play finished the game in the bottom of the 9th for Brothers. Final score: Monkeys 5 Brothers 4.

This week’s schedule.

Rakuten Monkeys v Uni Lions – Tues/Wed in Tainan

CTBC Brothers v Fubon Guardians – Wed/Thurs at Xinzhuang.

CTBC Brothers v Uni Lions – Weekend series in Tainan

Rakuten Monkeys v Fubon Guardians – Weekend series at Xinzhuang.

Midweek games at 6:35pm Taiwan time, Sat and Sun at 5:05pm. All games subject to weather.

See you next week,

Tom