It’s Tuesday lunchtime and so it’s time to look back upon last week’s CPBL action and of course, look ahead to this week’s games.

Uni Lions

To say it was a mixed week for the Lions would be an understatement as they went 2-3. As ever, the bullpen and fielding are the main talking points.

The week started in agonising fashion on Tuesday away at Taoyuan Lamigo Monkeys. Losing 7-3 in the top of the 9th, Chen Chieh Hsien hit a grand slam to level the game at 7-7, only for Chu Yu Hsien to walk off in the bottom of the 9th with a home run of his own.

Wednesday saw more pain, but this time, a lot more brutal. The Lions gave up 18 runs, 24 hits and 3 errors as Lamigo cruised to an 18-4 win. Lions bullpen pitcher Lin Tzu Wei was shredded conceding 4 hits, 7 runs and 3 walks recording 0 outs.

Friday continued the week’s theme at home to Chinatrust Brothers. Leading 8-3 in the top of the 8th the Lions bullpen once again failed to show up, as Brothers ended up winning 11-8.

The weekend was better with two nice wins. 9-6 on Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday v Brothers. Saturday was notable for the cringe-worthy rundown in which two Lions players got themselves out. There is hope, the hitting looked fine over the weekend and there is a special mention to rookie bullpen pitcher, Liu Hsuan Ta who boasts an ERA of 1.08

Unfortunately, fielding is still an issue, errors after 4/5 pitches respectively at the weekend. The error count stands at 27 over 16 games.

Lamigo Monkeys

Last year’s champions had a bounce-back week as they went 4 and 1. They started with an 8-7 home victory over Uni Lions. Chu Yu Hsien stood out with 4 hits and 6 RBIs including a first-inning grand slam and a walk-off home run.

On Wednesday they showed what they are really capable of in a remarkable 18-4 win over the Lions. Of the 14 hitters Lamigo used in this game, 11 have batting averages over 0.300.

The weekend series away at Fubon Guardians started solidly. They won 3-1 and 4-1 on Friday and Saturday, restricting Fubon to just 9 hits in those 2 games. Radhames Liz continued to look good, reaching 157kmh (97.5mph) with his fastball. The week ended with defeat, falling 8-4 to the aforementioned Guardians.

Lamigo may well be 8-9 for the season but their hitting is quite frankly frightening. They lead every statistical category, their average is 0.318 as a team and have made 50% more hits (200 v 138) than Uni Lions who are in 2nd place. Look out once again for this Lamigo juggernaut.

Chinatrust Brothers

Brothers started the week with their 6th consecutive win away at Fubon Guardians on Wednesday night. Tsai Chi Che and Henry Sosa had a great battle on the mound and score was level at 1-1 after 9 innings. All action in the 10th as Brothers scored 3 runs, and then held on for a 4-3 victory.

Thursday game away at Fubon Guardians was cancelled due to rain, so onto the away series at Uni Lions in Tainan over the weekend.

Brothers pulled off a remarkable comeback on Friday evening to extend their winning run to 7. Trailing 8-3 in the top of the 8th, they scored 6 runs in the 8th to lead 9-8 then 2 more in the top of the 9th to seal an 11-8 win.

Over the weekend, despite being backed by a strong away following fell to two defeats. On Saturday, they lost 9-6 to the Lions. Nick Additon’s pitching is not looking the same. Sunday saw another defeat, this time going down 5-3 to the Lions.

2-2 for the week. Brothers just need to keep going as they are, chipping away, picking up wins as they have an impressive 10-4 record for the season.

Fubon Guardians

Fubon Guardians continue to perplex as they go 1-3 for the week with each fixture being played at home.

They started the week with 3 straight losses, a painful 4-3 loss in the 10th to Brothers, then 3-1, 4-1 defeats to Lamigo Monkeys. The week ended with an 8-4 win over Lamigo Monkeys but for some reason, Fubon are just underachieving in these early stages.

Hitting seems to be a big issue, just 22 hits in those 4 defeats. They don’t seem to be able to pick up any kind of form at the moment. Fubon fans must be hoping, this is the week they go off on a tear and produce a winning week.

This week’s fixtures

Fubon Guardians v Chinatrust Brothers @ Taichung on Tuesday/Wednesday at 6:35.

Lamigo Monkeys v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Wednesday/Thursday at 6:35.

Fubon Guardians v Lamigo Monkeys @ Taoyuan on Friday at 6:35, Saturday at 5:05 and Sunday at 2:05.

Uni Lions v Chinatrust Brothers @ Tianmu on Friday at 6:05, Saturday at 5:05 and Sunday at 2:05.