Welcome to round-up 10 of the season as every side has now played over half of their matches in the first phase.

Monkeys v Brothers – Tues and Wed in Taichung

Weng Wei Chun matched up against the rapidly improving Jose de Paula and this was all one way traffic. The Dominican was in complete control as he struck out 10 allowing just one earned run (a Lin Li homer) in his 6 innings. During this time Brothers scored 8 runs and went further ahead in the 7th. Rakuten Monkeys would score come consolation runs but still easily lost. Final score: Monkeys 5 Brothers 10.

Nicolino v Huang En Sih in this one and both pitchers went into the 7th, an early exchange of runs had the Monkeys leading 4-3 after 4 and it remained that way into the 7th. Nicolino allowed a 1 out 2 RBI double to Chang Chih Hao and that was the turning point. Brothers had a 5-4 and wouldn’t surrender it, extending it 6-4 after 7 and added 2 more in the 8th. Final score: Monkeys 4 Brothers 8.

Lions v Guardians – Wed and Thurs at Xinzhuang

On his birthday Lions Chiang Chen Yen had the chance to be just the 3rd man in league history to win on his birthday but his side was facing Guardians ace Mike Loree. Chiang gave up two HRs in the opening three only for the tide to turn… Very… Very… Dramatically. Uni Lions got 6 hits and a walk off Loree as he exited the game with the score 6-2 in the top of the 4th with 1 out. The visitors would score in the next four innings to take a 12-2 lead with Chiang pitching 94 over 7 innings. Fubon scored a consolation in the bottom of the 8th but Chiang had his birthday win. Final score: Lions 12 Guardians 3

Thursday’s game was a lot closer as Shih Tzu Chien took on Chiang Kuo Hao. The sides were level 3-3 after 3 and 4-4 going into the bottom of the 6th. Kao Hsiao Yi’s grounder with runners on 2nd and 3rd brought home a run, what would be 9th and final run of the game. Final score: Lions 4 Guardians 5.

Lions v Brothers – Fri, Sat and Sun in Taichung

Friday’s game was another close one for Uni Lions having lost 2 of the previous 3 by a single run. This became 3 in 4. Ryan Feierabend pitched 7 solid innings and left the game with the Lions 6-5 up. Earlier in the game Brothers had taken a 5-2 lead only for Kuo Fu Lin and Su Chih Chieh to hit 5th inning homers to tie it up. Su’s sac fly then made it 6-5 in the 7th.

With Feieraband gone Huang Chun Yen gave three free passes with 2 walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases. Closer Chen Yun Wen couldn’t stop the Brothers offense with a Wang Wei Chen grounder getting an out but the runner on 3rd scored to makw it 6-6. Wu Dong Rong’s double then put Brothers 8-6 up. In response the Lions loaded the bases off closer CC Lee with no outs but could manage a sac fly from Su Chih Chieh. Final score: Lions 7 Brothers 8.

Saturday’s game was not particularly with Josh Roenicke facing Mitch Lively. Brothers scored 2 in the 2nd, 3rd and 5th innings to take a comfortable 6-0 lead against a Lions offense that only made 2 hits in the opening 5. The game was quickly opened up through Chen Chieh Hsien and Wu Chieh Rui’s back to back doubles followed up by a Su Chih Chieh homer. 6-3 and game on? No. Lions relievers allowed Brothers in a row to reach base, took 45 pitches to get an out and allowed an RBI to Chou Shi Chi then a Grand Slam to Chan Tzu Hsien and a 3 run homer to Huang Chun Sheng. Brothers 14-3 up and without an out! The game settled down and either side troubled the scorers again. Final score: Lions 3 Brothers 14.

Sunday’s game was interesting to say the least as Logan Darnell faced off against Ariel Miranda. Things started fantastically for Uni Lions loading the bases with no outs and a Kuo Fu Lin walk brought home a run. Lin An Ko made it 2-0 in the top of the 3rd and with bases loaded Lin Tzu Chieh cleared the bases with a 3 RBI shot to the wall. A stand up double and Chen Chong Yu brought Lin home with a sac fly after a wild pitch. Brothers immediately responded loading the bases themselves with 0 outs and having scored 2 runs. Darnell got two outs but Chen Tzu Hao repeated Lin Tzu Chieh with his own 3 run double.

No further score going into the bottom of the 4th and then the rain came which delayed the game by 2 hours. No score again until the 8th when Chen Chong Yu’s home run made it 7-5. The bullpen blew it with Darnell gone. Cheng Chun Ren started the 8th, conceded a run, Huang Chun Yen continued the downfall with 3 hits and the lead given up and Chen Yun Wen closed out the inning, getting the final two outs with Brothers 9 7 up. Lin An Ko drove in a home run off CC Lee in the top of the 9th but no further runs for Uni Lions who fell to another 1 run defeat. Final score: Lions 8 Brothers 9.

Guardians v Monkeys – Fri, Sat and Sun in Taoyuan

It was Bryan Woodall v Lisalverto Bonila in Friday’s game and Bonila had another stellar performance as he pitched 8 innings but nearly didn’t get the win. Rakuten Monkeys did their thing and took a 3-0 lead with three solo homers by Chen Chen Wei in the 1st, Lin Li in the 4th and Kuo Yun Wen in the 6th. Bonila had a wobble conceding homers to Hu Chin Long and Kao Kuo Lin as Fubon tied the game at 3-3 with the top of the 8th played. The usual dependable Lin Yi Hao then immediately allowed three runs and the Monkeys led 6-3. This was almost not enough as Chen Yu Hsun allowed two runs without an out. Huang Tzu Peng tidied up and Bonila and the Monkeys held on. Final score: Guardians 5 Monkeys 6.

Saturday saw Henry Sosa face Wang Yi Cheng and it started with lots of runs. The Monkeys took a 6-4 lead after 4 but Sosa would remain in the game until the end of the 8th and pitch 128 times. This was due to an issue with closer Chen Hung Wen and the fact Fubon’s relievers have struggled against the Monkeys this year. Sosa didn’t concede in his final 4 innings and his Guardians side would claw themselves back into the game. The game was 6-5 Monkeys when Monkeys starter Wang Yi Cheng left the game and the Guardians were soon ahead. 2 runs off both Su Chun Wei and Huang Tzu Peng put the visitors 9-6 up after 8. Lin Yi Hao pitched a 1 2 3 inning to finish off the home side to give the final score: Guardians 9 Monkeys 6

Sunday’s game was postponed due to rain

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This week’s schedule

Lions v Monkeys on Tues/Wed in Taoyuan

Guardians v Brothers on Wed/Thurs in Taichung

Guardians v Lions – Fri, Sat, Sun in Tainan.

Monkeys v Brothers –

Fri, Sat, Sun in Tainan

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Tom

2020