The CTBC Brothers on Thursday clinched the second-half championship of the CPBL season with a 6-2 victory over the visiting Wei Chuan Dragons in Taichung.
Witnessed by a crowd of 15,383 at their home turf, Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, Brothers’ starter Lin Huei-sheng pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits with two strikeouts in the crucial game.
The 26-year-old right-hander earned his third win of the season and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Their latest title gave the Brothers, one of the four founding CPBL teams, their 20th half-season championship — the most of any team in the league.
They were to face the TSG Hawks last night.
If they won that game, they would secure the best full-season record and an automatic berth in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series.
The Tainan-based Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions captured the first-half title.
“It was extremely regrettable for us as a team and for our fans that we could not take the first-half title,” Brothers manager Keiichi Hirano told reporters after the Thursday’s victory, adding that this was why his team had worked so hard to win the second half.
“Our next goal is to become the team with the highest winning percentage this year,” he said, urging fans to attend last night’s game in Taichung to cheer for the hosts.
CPBL teams play two 60-game half-seasons.
The winners of the two halves automatically claim the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds; the team with the better full-season record earns a direct berth in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series, which is played in a 2-2-3 format.
The other half-season winner must play a best-of-five series against the team with the best full-season record that did not win a half-season title.
The Brothers defeated the Lions in last year’s CPBL Taiwan Series, capturing their 10th championship and tying the Uni-Lions for the league record.
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