Led by veterans coming through with key hits, the Brothers Baseball Club yesterday wrapped up the first half of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season in winning fashion, scoring one late run to edge the Uni-President Lions 5-4 at Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung.
Designated hitter Peng Cheng-min clobbered a two-run homer, his second round-tripper in as many games, to give the Brothers an early 2-0 lead.
The Lions then got their offense going, with both sides trading runs to level at 4-4 in the fifth inning.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The game remained tied until the eighth frame, when veteran shortstop Chen Chiang-ho hit an RBI-single to knock in the winning run, with the Brothers securing the 5-4 score line.
US right-hander Nathan Long pitched five innings to start the game for the Brothers, while set-up man Kuan Ta-yuan pitched the final inning to pocket his first win of the season.
In the other makeup game on Saturday, the EDA Rhinos salvaged a win to end a seven-game losing skid, trouncing the Brothers 12-4 in Taichung.
EDA catcher Fang Ke-wei had an outstanding day, blasting two home runs and accounting for six RBI’s to lead his team out of a miserable slump over the past month, in which the Rhinos lost 11 out of 13 contests.
Executives of E-United Group, the Rhinos’ owners, earlier this month expressed their disappointment with the team’s poor performance by announcing the club was up for sale, shaking up Taiwan’s professional baseball community.
Yesterday’s game marked the conclusion of the first half of the CPBL season, with each of the four teams having played 60 games, and confirmed the Brothers as the best team so far this season. The Brothers topped the standing with 35 wins, 23 losses and two draws, securing them a berth in the season-ending Taiwan Series championship finals.
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