The Brothers Baseball Club last night beat the EDA Rhinos 16-4 to narrow the CPBL second-half gap, with the Rhinos now atop the table with a two-game lead over the Brothers and the Lamigo Monkeys, two weeks before Taiwan’s professional baseball season wraps up for the start of playoffs.
Cranking out 18 hits against four opposition pitchers, the Brothers piled on the runs with red-hot batting to hand the Rhinos their second loss in two days, putting a stop to EDA’s five-game winning streak over the past week.
US right-handed pitcher Bryan Woodall started on the mound for the Brothers at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium for the evening contest. Woodall mowed down EDA hitters to pick up his sixth win of the season, pitching seven innings and yielding only one run, while throwing six strikeouts.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
In yesterday’s other game, the Uni-President Lions edged the Lamigo Monkeys 6-5 in 10 innings in Tainan.
It was the second of a three-game series for the Lions on their home field, the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.
On Friday, in the first game of the series, the Lions invited American Institute in Taiwan Director Kin Moy to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
It was Moy’s first time at a Taiwanese professional baseball game, and he was received at the ballpark by Tainan Mayor William Lai.
At the special event, jointly organized by the ball club and the Tainan City Government, Moy also met Taiwanese baseball’s famous Chen brothers — who are Siraya Aborigines and Tainan natives — Chen Chin-feng and his elder brother, Chen Lien-hung, the former Lions skipper and current coach.
Moy lauded Chen Chin-feng, the first Taiwanese player to play in the US’ Major League Baseball and the most prolific hitter for Team Taiwan, saying he contributed greatly to the development of baseball in Taiwan.
Moy went on to credit Lai for his vision to construct the city’s soon-to-be-finished Asia-Pacific Baseball Park, endorsing the development and saying it will provide a new ballpark for both residents and visiting teams from abroad, which will spur the further growth of the game in the nation and host international tournaments.
“As a life-long baseball fan, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to throw the first pitch at the baseball game in Tainan between the Uni-President Lions and Lamigo Monkeys and relieved that I got the pitch over the plate,” Moy wrote online.
“In the US, baseball is a game that also connects fathers and sons. When I was young, my dad and I would spend the summer months playing catch in the backyard. It is still one of the fondest memories I have of my childhood,” Moy said, thanking Lai and the Uni-President Lions for the invitation.
Moy also participated in the pitching and batting practice of National Chiayi University’s women’s team, where he encouraged female students to take up sports.
“In the United States, Taiwan and many other places, sports have helped empower countless women and girls to achieve their dreams,” he said.
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