The EDA Rhinos kept their playoff hopes alive with an improbable come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Chinatrust Brothers in extra innings on Wednesday night, leaving the second-half title still up for grabs for both sides.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a race [for the second-half title] as close as this one,” Brothers skipper Hsieh Chang-han said prior to the game, knowing that a win on Wednesday would seal the deal for the men in gold and earn them the right to take on the first-half champions, the Lamigo Monkeys, in the upcoming Taiwan Series.
However, the diehard Rhinos simply refused to quit, despite falling behind by three runs in the opening inning on account of a drop by outfielder Chang Chien-ming that led to a pair of runs for Chinatrust, by scoring the game’s final four runs to hold off the yellow ribbons that the Brothers fans had brought in anticipation of victory.
“It’s up to [the Uni-President Lions] now whether we will play in the Taiwan Series or not,” EDA slugger Luo Kuo-hui said after the game. He certainly did his part by homering on Wednesday night to add to his league-best 17 blasts for the year.
The Rhinos will most likely root for the Uni-President Lions as they await the result of tonight’s regular season finale between the Cats and the Brothers at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, where a win by the Cats will send the Rhinos into the Taiwan Series, whereas a loss will qualify the Brothers to play in the annual Fall Classic.
Having failed on their previous attempt to win the second-half title, the Brothers will try again in tonight’s match against the Lions, with the right to play in the Taiwan Series on the line.
While the scale may tip slightly in favor of the Brothers, who hold a four-game lead over the Lions in the standings in the second half, the Cats actually enjoy a 9-2-8 lead in their 19 second-half meetings against the Brothers, with a well-rested lineup that played its last game on Sunday, compared with the Brothers, who will play without the service of ace Cheng Kai-wen, who started in Wednesday night’s game.
In addition to not having Cheng available for the game, the Brothers will also have to cope with the shadow of the Wednesday night loss that came as a result of an error by catcher Cheng Chih-hung, who missed a relay throw from rightfield at the plate to allowed the runner on third to score the game-winner.
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