So, it’s a case of the status quo as Lamigo Monkeys as continue in relentless pursuit of their 6th title in 8 years whilst Uni Lions and Fubon Guardians continue to struggle. Oh no, wait, I’m being told that this was last week. Let’s see what really happened…

Uni Lions

Oh hello? 2 weeks ago your season was in the toilet and now look what’s happened, the Lions have now won 8 out of their last 10 games! A few players have come back from injury but Roenicke and Chen Chieh Hsien remain on the long-term absentee list.

Midweek saw the Lions sweep Brothers in Taichung in a closely fought games. On Tuesday, the Lions trailed 2-1 going into the 9th inning. but thanks to an error on 2 outs  tied it up. Austin Bibens Dirkx struck out three in the bottom of the inning and it went to a 10th. A second Brothers infield error allowed the Lions to take a 3-2 lead and that’s how it stayed.

On Wednesday, it was rather more straight forward as the Lions won 3-1 with Chen Yun Wen picking up his 2nd save in 2 nights.

Both young Lions starters, Jiang Chen Yen and Shih Tzu Chien continue to look more like last season’s versions of themselves. Jiang hasn’t given up an earned run for 3 games/19 innings and Shih has only given up 1 earned run in his last 2 starts/13 innings.

Onto the weekend, Friday’s game was cancelled due to rain then wasn’t played on Sunday due to rain. However, the Lions swept Lamigo Monkeys in the two games played. An impressive 8-1 win on Saturday was followed up by a walk-off homer to win 10-9 on Sunday. Lamigo had rallied back from 9-5 down in the 9th before Kao Kuo Ching’s homer with the Lions 18th hit of the game, won it.

So, an impressive week for the Lions with 44 hits in 4 games. The bullpen has settled down, Austin has found his use as reliever, the hitting is looking better, the fielding is looking better. Uni Lions are 1.5 off the top with an 18-1-19 record…

Lamigo Monkeys

The defending champions had another mixed week and are 4-1-5 over their last 10 now. On Wednesday they drew 5-5, Chen Chen Wei tied the game in the bottom of the 12th with a 2 run shot. Thursday’s game saw the Monkeys show a bit of their 2018 selves, rallying back from 4-0 down to win 10-4, 4 runs in both the 6th and 7th innings.

The weekend wasn’t so good as they made the short trip to play Uni Lions at Tianmu Stadium. On Saturday they gave up 11 walks, including 7 from Radhames Liz as they fell to an 8-1 defeat. Sunday saw another defeat and this was cruel, they lead 5-3 after 3 innings then conceded regularly to go 9-5 behind. Lin Hung Yu and Chen Chun Chiu both hit 2RBIs to tie it as 9-9 in the top of the 9th before Kao Kuo Ching walked off for the Lions as the Monkeys lost 10-9.

Lamigo’s starters aren’t quite looking as effective with Zeke Spruill being released on Monday although he did relieve in this game. It’s been a sorry decline for Zeke who in 2017 had a 15-4 record with a 2.56 ERA. He went 7-1 last season, but his ERA was 5.12 and this year, has been ineffective 0-1 after 7 games with a 6.82 ERA.

Lamigo Monkeys remain top with an 18-1-16 record.

Chinatrust Brothers

The wheels are beginning to fall off for Brothers who go into this week 2-8 over their last 10 games.

They lost both midweek games at home to Uni Lions, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively with infield errors losing the game on Tuesday. Both of these games could have gone either way, with Brothers putting two on base in the bottom of the 9th in Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat before Lions closer Chen Yun Wen got the 3rd out and ended the game.

The weekend’s rain meant they only played on Friday and Saturday against Fubon Guardians. 4 different Brothers players hit home runs as they cruised to an 8-2 victory on Friday evening. Saturday’s game was curtailed after 1 out in the bottom of the 6th and with Fubon leading 7-4 at the time, were awarded the win. Up to this point, Brothers starter Huang En Tzu had given up 6 runs in 3.2 innings and his ERA is now 6.59, with a 1-3 record over 9 games.

Brothers only have two foreign pitchers playing at the moment, Mitch Lively and Nick Additon, the latter of whom has struggled to keep his ERA down. They are playing with young Taiwanese starters who are quite inexperienced, maybe a 3rd foreign pitcher would have been more useful than Alex Liddi batting 0.259 and starting in the field.

Brothers are now 19-1-17.

Fubon Guardians

Like Lamigo Monkeys and Chinatrust Brothers, Fubon carry a losing record (4-1-5) over their last 10 games. They also went 1-1-2 for the week.

In midweek they travelled to Taoyuan to face Lamigo Monkeys and after Chiang Chih Hsien’s 2 run blast in the top of the 12th to go 5-3 up, Fubon fans must have been excited. Alas, Lamigo hit back with their own 2 run blast and tied the game 5-5, which was how it stayed, both teams making 12 hits too. Mike Loree a non-factor in this one, giving up 6H, 2R over 6 innings.

Onto Thursday and Fubon were taken apart in the 6th and 7th innings. Debut starter hen Pin Syue gave up 3 earned runs, Lai Hung Cheng another as Lamigo went 5-4 ahead. Lin Chen Hua then gave up 4 hits, 4 runs and a walk as Lamigo eventually cruised a 10-4 win.

The weekend series v Brothers was split and poor Bryan Woodall. The 4 year CPBL veteran is now 2-6 over 9 games this season with an ERA of 4.94. He gave up 10 hits, 7 runs as he took the loss against his former side on Friday night. Saturday saw Fubon end the week with a rain-shortened 7-4 win in Taichung against Brothers.

Fubon are now 15-1-18 but are only 2.5 games off the top.

This week’s fixtures

Fubon Guardians v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Tues/Wed at 6:35pm

Lamigo Monkeys v Chinatrust Brothers @ Chengcing Lake on Wed/Thur at 6:35pm

Chinatrust Brothers v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm

Lamigo Monkeys v Fubon Guardians @ Xinzhuang on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm