The CPBL drew a capacity crowd of 7,800 yesterday at Tainan Municipal Stadium with the CTBC Brothers, as of press time last night, thrashing hosts the Uni-President Lions 6-1 in the ninth inning and poised to take a 3-1 lead in the Taiwan Series.
The opening inning pitted Lions southpaw Chiang Chen-yen against Brothers right-hander Huang En-shih.
The Brothers opened the scoring in the fourth inning as shortstop Chiang Kun-yu sent up a sacrifice fly to get a run.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
One batter later, outfielder Yueh Cheng-hua ripped a bouncer past the third baseman for a double, driving in two runs and giving the club a 3-0 lead.
The Lions had runners in scoring position in the second and fourth innings, but could not capitalize.
The Brothers mounted another rally in the fifth inning, getting two players on base through a hit and a walk, before the Lions pulled their starter in favor of set-up man Liu Hsuan-ta to face slugger Chan Tzu-hsien.
On a full count, Chan belted a meaty change-up, which hung high in the strike zone, over the wall in left field for a three-run homer, putting the Brothers ahead 6-0.
Vice President Willaim Lai, a former mayor of Tainan, sat in the stands with the Lions fans, cheering on the team and hoping for a win to level the Series at 2-2.
Play in Taichung at the weekend left the two sides 1-1 in the series as they headed south to Tainan for games 3, 4 and 5.
Before a crowd of 7,126 on Tuesday, the teams’ starting pitchers put in superb performances to keep the opposing offenses in check through to the final inning, when the Brothers broke through to score four runs for a 5-1 triumph.
Lions starting pitcher Teddy Stankiewicz, a Texas native who played on a Triple-A team with the Boston Red Sox organization, contained opposition batters to only one run on six hits through seven innings.
It was a night to savor for Brothers lefty starter Ariel Miranda, a native of Havana with Major League experience with the Seattle Mariners, as he threw nine strikeouts and yielded only one run on three hits.
The Lions scored an early run when slugger Lin An-ko drove a high fly that Brothers left-fielder Chan Tzu-hsien dived for, but missed.
It was recorded as a triple for Lin, who was sent home by the next batter, Kuo Fu-lin, on a sacrifice fly.
The Brothers tied it up in the fourth inning, when second baseman Yueh Tung-hua hit a sacrifice fly to drive in designated hitter Chou Ssu-chi, who got on base with a double.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until the ninth inning, when the Brothers faced Lions relief pitcher Huang Chun-yen.
With one man on base, third baseman Wang Wei-cheng ripped a double to knock in the go-ahead run for the visitors.
Huang hit the next batter, putting runners on first and second with two outs.
The Lions elected to bring in closer Chen Yun-wen against the next batter, Brothers first baseman Hsu Chi-hong.
Hsu won the showdown as he belted a fastball on two strikes — sending the ball high to bounce off the second-level breachers in right field — for a three-run homer, putting the Brothers ahead 5-1, which they held to take a 2-1 series lead.
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