It’s finally time to look back at the CPBL action between Tuesday 13th and Sunday 18th August.

Uni Lions v Chinatrust Brothers – Tues 13th and Wed 14th in Hualien

7 games in Hualien for Uni Lions and 5 defeats. Chinatrust Brothers were the designated home team for this series, the final one in Hualien and won both games.

On Tuesday, Elih Villenueva got the better of Alec Asher, as despite giving up 11 hits over 8, Villanueva only conceded 2 runs. The Lions struggled to get their runners home again, Brothers made 5 runs off their 7 hits with 3 runs coming off homers. It ended 5-2 Brothers.

Wednesday’s game saw the sides once again separated by 3 runs, this time Jiang Chen-yen pitched for the Lions and gave up 5 runs in his 4 innings. Brothers led 5-1 after those 4, and never looked like throwing away the lead, it got as close as 5-3 before 2 run homer from Chen Tzu-hao sealed it. Lions 4-7 Brothers was how it finished.

Fubon Guardians v Lamigo Monkeys – Wed 14th and Thurs 15th in Taoyuan

Wednesday’s game was a showdown between pitching heavyweights Mike Loree and Radhames Liz, but not for the first time this year, Lamigo dominated Loree. They took a 6-3 lead after 5 innings, but Liz didn’t last much longer, as Fubon pulled it back to 6-5 by the middle of the 6th. 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th put Lamigo 9-5 up and they wouldn’t look back. 2 runs apiece followed, it finished: Guardians 7 Monkeys 11.

Thursday’s game was a somewhat tighter affair and you have to feel for Fubon. They made 14 hits to Lamigo’s 7 yet still managed to lose the game. Fubon went 2-1 up early before Lin Li’s 5th inning grand slam put the Monkeys up 5 runs to 2. The game was tied at 5-5 as Fubon’s reliever Lin Yi-hao came to the mound, he conceded 2 runs, 2 walks and a HBP on Lin Hung-yu which strangely resulted in the winning RBI! One more run followed and it ended 7-5 Monkeys.

Chinatrust Brothers v Lamigo Monkeys – Fri 16th, Sat 17th and Sun 18th in Taoyuan

A huge Friday evening crowd of 13,617 watched Lamigo Monkeys beat Brothers in what was another weird CPBL game. Lamigo took an early 3-0 lead, and extend it to 5-0 in the 7th. Casey Harman giving away 5 runs, but only 2 earned. Wang Yi-cheng fairly rather better, 10 hits and 0 runs conceded. Brothers would score a solitary late run, as Wang moved to a crazy 11-2 record despite an ERA of 4.34. Brothers 1-5 Monkeys the final score.

Saturday’s game was decided late, in front of a slightly lower crowd of 13,034. Neither Liao Yi-zhong or Matt Grimes had any impact on this one, with the 3-2 Brothers after 6. They extended their lead to 5-2 only for the Monkeys to rally and hit 5 of their own in the bottom of the 7th. All 5 runs came off… Mitch Lively who has been one of Brothers best pitchers. The game wasn’t done there, as Brothers scored 3 in the top of the 8th to led 8-7. No fight back this time, and it finished 8-7.

Sunday’s game resulted in another shock Monkeys home loss. Elih Villanueva made his second start of the week, something out of necessity due to Brothers total lack of Taiwanese starters. He was once again, solid. 1 run and 4 hits over 7 innings as Brothers built a 9-1 lead. Guan Da-yuan conceded 3 runs in the 8th but it had no impact, Brothers 9 Monkeys 4 was how it ended.

Uni Lions v Fubon Guardians – Fri 16th, Sat 17th, Sun 18th at Xinzhuang

Ahh, the Uni Lions, once again finished the week with a series defeat against play-off chasers Fubon Guardians. Friday’s game resulted in their only win of the week in a matchup between Roenicke and Woodall. Both starters were solid, Woodall only giving up 2 runs in his 5 innings but it didn’t matter. Roenicke pitched 7, giving away 3 and took the W as Pan Wu-hsiang’s 2 RBI double put the Lions 4-3 up in the top of the 8th. Chen Yun-wen got the save and the Lions got a 4-3 win.

Saturday’s game was a dull affair as Uni Lions Pan Wei-lun attempted to tie the CPBL wins record for the 9th time. He pitched well, 9 hits, 2 runs in a really good 7 innings but he took the loss as his visiting Lions only managed one run. Fubon bouncing back with a 3-1 win.

Sunday’s match was rain-delayed and it was another tepid display with the bat from the Tainan side. Just 4 hits and 2 runs over the 9 innings, Fubon went 3-2 up in the 5th and put the game beyond reach with runs in the 7th and 8th. Yu Ting-wei with another good pitching display for the home side and he goes 4-1 for the season.

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This is how the standings looked on Sunday 18th August…

Lamigo – 17-12

Brothers – 17-13

Guardians – 16-14

Lions – 9-20

If Lamigo win the second phase, Fubon and Brothers will play a best of 5 series. If Fubon or Brothers win the phase, they will face Lamigo in the Taiwan Series.

The round-up from the week gone by will be published on time on Monday/Tuesday as I am only working 10 hours this coming week.

Tom