The Elephants, also defending champions, defeated the Chinatrust Whales 9-5 to achieve the first ever clean sweep in the CPBL's 13-year history.
The game did not start well for the Elephants in Chiayi Stadium before more than 7,000 fans.
PHOTO COURTESY CPBL
The Whales started well in the first inning by producing three hits against Elephants' starter Wang Chin-lee (
Whales' starter Kao Chien-san (
Trailing 3-0, the Elephants were able to win back some ground in the fourth inning by scoring two runs off five hits. Tsai Feng-an (
At the top of the fifth, Chen Chih-yuen of the Elephants belted a solo shot, his first homerun in this year's playoff series, to the right side of the bleachers to tie the game at three apiece.
Whales' starter Kao was forced to step off the mound and was replaced by Game 2 starter Sung Chao-chee (
After tying the game, the Elephants then moved into the lead for the first time in the sixth inning on a throwing error by Whales' catcher Sugiyama, who was attempting to pick off the runner at third base.
A wild throw by Sugiyama to the third baseman enabled Chen Hwai-shan (
In the sixth inning, the Whales scored on a fielding error by Elephants' second baseman Feng Sheng-shien (馮勝賢) to pull themselves within two runs.
But the fearful offense kept pounding Whales' pitching staff as the Elephants sent another two men home to make it a 6-4 game.
The Elephants then scored another three runs in the last inning of the game, which knocked the Whales' fourth pitcher of the night, Kuo-lee Chien-fu (
The Whales attempted to rally in the bottom of the ninth, but were not able to come back from a 9-5 deficit and ended up losing the game, as well as the championship.
Fans poured onto the field, opened the champagne and enjoyed the moment with Elephants players. The players also ran a victory lap around the field to show their appreciation to the fans.
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