In the CPBL postseason challenge series, the Uni-President Lions beat the CTBC Brothers 4-2 to level the series at 2-2. The winner of the decisive game in Taichung on the evening of the 12th takes a place in the Taiwan Series.
According to the United Daily News, Liberty Times and EBC News reports, the Lions collected 13 hits in beating the Brothers 4-2 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on the 11th. In the best-of-five series the Brothers, as second-half champions, began with a 1-0 lead, so the Lions were on the brink of elimination at 0-2 before winning twice.
광고 문의 · 300×250The Lions started 22-year-old lefty Lin Chao-en in his first postseason start; he was lifted after 2.2 innings and two runs, and import reliever Difen (帝芬) took over. According to the Liberty Times, he pitched for a second straight day, throwing 3.1 scoreless innings and inducing double plays in the fourth and fifth.
An early lead, a fourth-inning turnaround, an eighth-inning insurance run
The game see-sawed. The Lions scored first on a Lin Pei-wei RBI single in the first, the Brothers tied it on a Sung Cheng-jui RBI single in the bottom half and took the lead in the third on Wang Wei-chen's hit. In the top of the fourth, Chiu Chih-cheng tied it with an RBI hit and Lin Chia-wei followed with a go-ahead hit to make it 3-2. In the eighth, Pan Chieh-kai led off with a triple and Chen Sheng-ping's sacrifice fly made it 4-2.
Brothers starter Logan (Nivaldo Rodriguez) went six innings, allowed 11 hits and took the loss. The Brothers had a chance to chase after Kao Yu-chieh tripled in the sixth, but could not tie it. Taiwanese media pointed to the fourth inning, when the Lions chained three straight hits, as the turning point.
The history adds spice. The two clubs have met seven times in the Taiwan Series, with the Brothers winning four (1993, 2001, 2021, 2024) and the Lions three (2008, 2009, 2020). In the 2017 challenge series the Brothers won 3-1. This year the Lions have survived elimination twice, so the mood is tense going into the finale.
Game 4 is set for 6:35 p.m. on the 12th at the same Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, per the series schedule announcement; neither side has named a starter. In a winner-take-all game, bullpen management is expected to be decisive, with the fatigue of the Lions' relievers after consecutive days of work and a Brothers lineup looking to rebound on the home stage as the swing factors.
