The CTBC Brothers yesterday leveled the Taiwan Series with a 9-1 victory at home in Taichung, taking an early lead with two home runs from the Yueh brothers, while the Brothers added four late runs to defeat the Uni-President Lions.
Dominican lefty Jose de Paula started Game 2 as pitcher for CTBC, while American Tim Melville was on the mound for the Lions.
Lions batters scored first at the top of the second inning, when Taiwanese-Argentine outfielder Lin An-ko hit a single up the middle, and first baseman Kao Kuo-ching followed with a liner to the right side, to place runners at the corners.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Shortstop Chen Yung-chi launched a double into left field against De Paula to drive Lin home, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, the Brothers rattled Melville when, with one man on, second baseman Yueh Tung-hua drilled a shot over the right-field wall to reverse the lead to 2-1.
One batter later, catcher Chen Chia-chu slapped a roller up the middle to drive in another run to pad their lead.
Outfielder Yueh Cheng-hua, Yueh Tung-hua’s younger brother, smashed an inside pitch over the right-field wall for a two-run homer, bringing the game to 5-1 at the end of the second inning.
It was the first time in the CPBL post-season that two brothers recorded home runs in the same inning, and appropriately it was the key to the Brothers’ Game 2 win.
Neither side scored again until the eighth inning, when CTBC piled on four more runs against veteran Lions pitcher Pan Wei-lun, as shortstop Chiang Kun-yu hit a bouncer to the right side for an RBI-single.
With two men on, pinch-hitter Su Wei-ta took aim on a hanging slider and blasted into the seats at center field for a three-run homer, setting the game at 9-1.
De Paula pocketed the win on a superb outing, yielding only one run on six hits, while striking out nine and walking two through eight innings.
Former Cleveland Indians fireballer C.C. Lee entered in the ninth frame to get the last three outs.
Melville was tagged with the loss, giving up five runs on eight hits, including the Yueh brothers’ home runs, but also had three strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
The teams, among the founding clubs of the CPBL in 1990, hold the most Taiwan Series titles in the league’s 30-year history, with the Lions at nine and the Brothers with seven, tied with the Rakuten Monkeys.
It was more than a decade earlier since the Lions and the Brothers last met in the Taiwan Series in 2009, when the Lions defeated the then-Brother Elephants in the decisive Game 7, giving the Tainan team their third consecutive championship title.
The Lions went on to capture two more titles in the next four years, winning the series 4-1 over the Monkeys in 2011, and then in a four-game sweep against the EDA Rhinos in 2013, but they have not won the title since.
The Brothers have waited even longer, as their last series victory was in 2010.
The series heads to Tainan, where the Lions host games three and four tomorrow and Wednesday. Game 5 would be on Thursday, at Tainan Municipal Stadium.
The stands were restricted to 78 percent capacity, with families and groups staggered for social distancing due to COVID-19 prevention measures. Games 1 and 2 hosted 15,600 spectators, while in Tainan, Game 3 has already sold out for its limited 7,800 seats.
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