The Rakuten Monkeys last night returned to their winning ways on the back of two-homer hero Chu Yu-hsien as they trounced the Wei Chuan Dragons 11-0 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium to take a 3-2 lead in the Taiwan Series.
The visitors have a chance to finish off the Dragons in Game 6 today with another win, which would clinch the best-of-seven series.
Dominican right-hander Pedro Fernandez turned on one of the best Taiwan Series performances of the past few years with a dominant pitching performance.
Photo: CNA
Fernandez fanned 13 batters through eight innings, allowing five hits and one walk.
His 13 strikeouts equaled a record for the most in a CPBL finals.
Mercury Tigers pitcher Tu “Big Train” Hong-chin also achieved the mark in 1990.
It was a night to forget for the Dragon’s American starter Jake Brigham, who was tagged for seven hits, including a home run, and charged with six runs.
He exited in the fourth, a rarity for him this season.
Monkey’s left fielder Chu, known as the “Dimple Cannon,” showcased his team’s potent offense when he belted a solo homer off Brigham in the second frame to open the scoring.
In the next inning, third baseman Liang Chia-jung drove two runners home with a bouncer through the right side.
Their red-hot bats could not be stopped and in the next inning, the Monkeys piled on three runs on four hits, with a double by shortstop Lin Cheng-fei and a sacrifice bunt.
The Monkeys were 6-0 after four innings and added another run in the fifth.
Dragons ace pitcher Wang Wei-chung, a former Oakland Athletics player who is known as the “Dragon King,” was rocked by the Monkeys’ batters, with Chu smashing a two-run homer off him.
Wang was replaced, but still the Monkeys were not done as they moved into double digits in the seventh inning.
It was a disappointing outing for Wang, whose ERA ballooned to 31.5 in the series.
The Monkeys sent in lefty Chen Kuan-yu, a former pitcher with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.
He finished off the Dragons in the ninth.
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