The CTBC Brothers took another step yesterday to overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the Taiwan Series with a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Wei Chuan Dragons at the Taipei Dome, extending the championship series to a Game 6.
The Brothers got strong performances from starting pitcher Nivaldo Rodriguez and shortstop Chiang Kun-yu, who scored the winning run in the top of the ninth to give CTBC its second straight win in the series.
With the score tied at 3-3, Brothers first baseman Huang Wei-sheng hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Chiang, who had reached base with his third hit of the game.
CTBC Brothers player Wang Wei-chen, right, scores from second base in the second inning of Game 5 of the CPBL’s Taiwan Series in Taipei Dome yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Brothers reliever Felix Pena then retired the Dragons in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.
After losing the first three games of the best-of-seven series, the Brothers have now won two straight to narrow the Dragons’ lead to 3-2.
No team in Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Taiwan Series history has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the championship, nor had any team even won two games in a row after losing three straight until now.
Game 6 is scheduled for 3:05pm today at the Taipei Dome.
In yesterday’s Game 5, Rodriguez won the pitching duel against Dragons ace John Gant.
The Venezuelan right-hander pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, including a solo home run by Dragons cleanup hitter Liu Ji-hong in the bottom of the fourth.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Dragons capitalized after the Brothers pulled Rodriguez from the mound with Liu on second base.
Facing Brothers reliever Lu Yen-ching, Chang Cheng-yu hit an RBI double to bring Liu home, followed by an RBI single from Kuo Tien-hsin that tied the game at 3-3.
Game 5, originally scheduled for Friday, was postponed twice, first to Saturday and then to yesterday, after Taipei announced school and office closures due to Typhoon Champi.
The two-day delay gave the Brothers’ key pitchers more time to rest as they fight to avoid elimination. Rodriguez had pitched six scoreless innings in Game 3 on Oct. 20.
The Brothers’ bats, which had been quiet through the first three games in which they only managed three runs and nine hits, continued to show signs of warming up with nine hits yesterday after scoring five runs on eight hits in Game 4.
CTBC reached its third consecutive Taiwan Series by winning a first-round playoff series against the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.
The Dragons made the Taiwan Series automatically by having the CPBL’s best regular season record.