Despite a loss, the Uni-President Lions clinched the second-half CPBL title, with the Weichuan Dragons to thank after they downed the CTBC Brothers in last night’s other game.
Upon the final out in the ninth inning in New Taipei City, the Lions’ fans at the Sinjhuang Stadium tossed orange ribbons to celebrate the title — after news reached them that the Dragons had held their substantial lead all the way in Kaohsiung — which also assured the team a berth in the Taiwan Series to begin this month.
Photo: CNA
Although the Lions lost to the Fubon Guardians 4-3, the pivotal result was the 11-2 victory by the Dragons over the Brothers at the Cheng Ching Lake Stadium.
Photo: CNA
Coming into their game last night, the Lions had reduced their magic number to 1: They needed either to beat the Guardians or for the Brothers to lose to clinch the title ahead of the final regular-season games this weekend.
The season had a two-month hiatus from the middle of May to the middle of July due to a COVID-19 alert.
The Lions (32-3-23) have the best record this half, while the Brothers (28-4-24) are 2.5 games behind, the Rakuten Monkeys (26-3-28) 5.5 games back, the Dragons (26-1-30) 6.5 games behind the leaders and the Guardians (24-3-31) last, eight games back.
Fubon’s batters scored one run each in the third to fifth frames to go ahead 3-0 against the Lions, with the sides trading late runs.
Meanwhile, the bats of the surging Dragons remained hot, scoring four runs by the third inning and 8-2 in the fifth frame.
On Wednesday, a late charge by the Lions’ hitters, who grabbed five runs in the ninth, blew up a 2-0 game to give them a 7-0 victory over the Guardians at the Sinjhuang Stadium.
Lions starting pitcher Brock Dykxhoorn pocketed his league-leading 17th win of the season, cruising through eight shutout innings.
The Canadian righty, who is in his second year with the Lions, issued no walks and scattered five hits among seven strikeouts to improve to 17-4 with an ERA of 1.83, while also reaching 200 Ks in Taiwanese baseball.
Dykxhoorn had plenty of help on defense to thwart the opposition, particularly in the fifth inning, when Fubon had Yang Chin-hao on second base with a double, and next batter Tai Pei-feng slapped a single for Yang to race around for home.
However, Lions centerfielder Chen Chieh-hsien charged the ball, aiming his throw at catcher Lin Tai-an to gun down Yang at home plate by half a step.
From behind Lin as a back up, Dykxhoorn pumped his fist to celebrate the third out to end the inning and pointed to Chen for a superb throw to keep the shutout bid alive.
In the top of the ninth, the Lions had the bases loaded on a walk and two fielding errors. Lin Ching-kai drove in two runs on a single, and the next three batters each got a hit to pile on the runs.
Two relievers came in at the bottom of the ninth to get the final three outs to seal the game and reduce the Lions’ magic number to 1.
Dykxhoorn said that he had his fastball going and used other pitches to go after Fubon’s hitters on the inside and outside corners.
“After each game I just prepare for the next start, and did not think too much about it,” he said. “Now we are reaching near the end, and can look back now. Seeing I have 17 wins... It is the best season in my career, and it has been quite a crazy year.”
The last man in the CPBL to surpass the 17-win mark was also a Canadian pitcher, former Montreal Expos righty Mike Johnson of Edmonton, Alberta, who registered an impressive 20-2 record and a 2.45 ERA for the La New Bears in 2008.
The previous best for the Lions was Dominican lefty John Burgos in 2001 for his 18 victories and four losses, with an ERA of 2.03.
In the other game on Wednesday, the Monkeys ignited for four runs in the first and sixth frames on the way to subdue the Dragons 9-3 at the Cheng Ching Lake Stadium.
American pitcher Dylan Covey chalked up his third win of the season behind 11 hits by his teammates.
He yielded two runs on five hits and was replaced after the sixth frame for three Rakuten relievers to mop up the final three innings.
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