The EDA Rhinos last night clinched the CPBL Taiwan Series in dramatic fashion, coming from behind to score three runs in the ninth inning of Game 6 against the Brothers Baseball Club to win 4-3 and seal their first championship title in the team’s four-year history.
The Rhinos were trailing for most of the game and were still behind 3-1 at the start of the ninth inning, but their hitters put together a late rally of four hits and one walk, and took advantage of an opposition fielding error to push three runs home, reversing the deficit and taking the 4-3 lead.
It was a bittersweet series victory for the Rhinos, since this is their first CPBL title, and will be their only one. E United Group, the club’s parent company, put the team up for sale earlier this year. Fubon Financial Holdings last month announced it would purchase the club for NT$300 million (US$9.48 million at current exchange rates.)
Photo: CNA
The new owners and EDA executives celebrated the hard-earned championship trophy with the players. Fubon will officially take over the franchise on Tuesday.
For the Brothers, it was another disappointing end to a post-season, after they also lost the Taiwan Series finals in 2014 and last year.
The Brothers got on the board first in the opening frame, when with two men on base, Chiang Chih-hsien drilled a shot off EDA starter Jared Lansford over the outfield wall for a three-run homer.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Rhinos battled back to get one run in the fourth inning against the Brothers’ left-handed pitcher Nick Additon to make it 3-1, and it remained that way until the ninth inning.
The Brothers’ fans were on the edge of their seats throughout the late innings as they anticipated a win, which would have forced the series to a Game 7 decider.
However, at the top of the ninth frame the Rhinos pummeled Brothers’ closer Chen Hung-wen for consecutive hits by outfielder Lin Che-hsuan and pinch-hitter Chang Chien-ming.
One out later, hits by Kao Hsiao-yi and Lin Wei-ting tied up the game, then catcher Lin Kun-sheng slapped a bouncer that was mishandled by Brothers first baseman Peng Cheng-min for EDA to get three runs and go in front.
In the bottom of the ninth frame, EDA had left-handed closer Huang Sheng-hsiung took the mound to shut the door, and he got two outs before Brothers outfielder Chang Cheng-wei stroked a fly ball. EDA outfielder Lin Che-hsuan made a fantastic diving catch, and everyone thought it was end of the game, with the Rhinos players rushing out on to the field to celebrate.
However, the umpire reviewed video footage and ruled that the ball bounced, calling everyone back to their dugouts. Huang then got the third out on a grounder for a force-out at second to clinch the championship title.
“Our players were outstanding through this series, they had lots of pressure on, but always found a way to win,” EDA head coach Yeh Chun-chang said after the game. “Although we were behind in several games, I firmly believed we could come back. They did it today once again, so I gave them all the credit.”
Outfielder Lin Che-hsuan, who was selected as the MVP for the series and was overcome by emotion, said: “We did it. Most people had written us off this season, but we had confidence in ourselves and we won the title.”
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
RSS