The Lamigo Monkeys on Tuesday mounted a late rally to seize a narrow one-run win in Tainan, then had to wait for the result of another game before they were crowned first-half champions.
After their game, Lamigo headed to the locker room and their fans remained in the stands for more than an hour to watch the other CPBL contest between the Fubon Guardians and Brothers Baseball Club in Taichung, which finished at 11:30pm.
“It is a big relief,” Lamigo Monkeys manager Hong Yi-chung said after the game. “The pressure is off and we can all relax now.”
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Fans and commentators said that it was the most unusual and least exciting way in CPBL history that a team has celebrated winning the half-season title.
Heading into Tuesday’s match against the Uni-President Lions, Lamigo need to win and the Guardians needed to lose to ensure that the Monkeys would top the table.
The result seemed unlikely after the Lions scored four early runs, but the Monkeys had a late fightback to make it 4-2 after seven innings.
From there, they sent nine batters to the plate and pushed three runs across to reverse the lead at 5-4 at the top of eighth inning.
Hong then sent in relievers Huang Tzu-peng and Lin Po-yu for the final two innings to hold the score.
However, Lamigo fans and players had to wait and watched on their smartphones as the game between the Guardians and Brothers went into extra innings.
In that contest, both sides struck early for the Brothers to go ahead 4-2 after two innings, then the Guardians notched two late runs to level at 4-4.
Neither team could capitalize on their chances, and by the league’s rules, the game was declared a draw at the end of 12th.
After the draw was confirmed, Lamigo players in locker room and fans who stayed in the stands tossed ribbons to celebrate the first-half title, which gives them an advantage in the year-end championship series.
“We can now enjoy the success after all the hard work the players have put into all the first-half games, but we are only halfway there,” Lamigo catcher Lin Hong-yu said.
After Tuesday, Lamigo had a 33-22-1 record and were in front by 4.5 games over the Fubon Guardians (28-26-2).
The Guardians have four more outings this week before the first half is over to make up for rain postponements earlier in the season.
In third place are the Brothers (26-31-2), who are eight games behind first place, while the Uni-President Lions (25-33-1) occupy the cellar, 9.5 games behind the leaders.
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