Brother Ace Rogo. (Photo by reporter Liao Yaodong)
[Reporter Lin Youchen/Taichung Report] CITIC Brothers defeated Fubon Titans yesterday, and Lotte Peach Monkey defeated Taiwan Steel Eagles yesterday, allowing CITIC Brothers to drop the magic number to "M1" in the second half of the season. Whether or not to win the envelope today is in your own hands, the premise is to win or draw with the Taiwan Steel Eagles; at the same time, brother ace Rogo challenges the league leading 12th win in a single season. Relying on the ace foreign investment player Rogo, who lost 1 point in 7 games, the brothers defeated Taipei Steel 12:1 in the end. CITIC Brothers became the champions in the second half of the season. Rogo also accumulated 12 wins this season, locking in the top spot this year in advance.
CITIC Brothers' record in the first half of the season was sluggish, ranking at the bottom with 20 wins, 37 losses and 2 losses (one game left in the first half of the season). In the second half of the season, CITIC Brothers' record improved. Today's win confirmed the "regain" of the playoff qualification. They will face the Unified Lions in the first round of the post-season challenge.
In the first inning, Taigang pioneer Wang Boxuan stole an infield hit, but Taigang did not score in the follow-up. In the next inning, Zhang Shilun received a walk against Zhang Cheng'en. Zhang Renwei hit a ground ball. Taigang's double play failed. Shortstop Huang Bingyang was credited with an error. Zeng Song'en also hit a ground ball. Taigang third baseman Huang Jiexi made a successful contact but made a pass error, resulting in 1 out. Wang Weichen then hit a ground ball. Taigang's double play failed again, allowing CITIC Brothers to score first.
The brothers' offensive continued. After 2 outs, Song Shengrui and Jiang Kunyu both received walks, causing the bases to be loaded. Huang Weisheng, who scored a key hit yesterday, made another contribution at this time, hitting the first hit of the brothers' team, with 2 RBIs.
In the 2nd inning, Ko Seng-en hit a fly ball to the right field. His brother, right fielder Zhang Renwei, judged the fault and recorded it as a double. Taiwan Steel then broke the ball with Ji Qingran and Huang Jiexi's ground balls. Taiwan Steel's starting pitcher Chang Cheng-en retired from the game after pitching 2 innings and allowed 3 runs, none of which were earned runs.
Rogo struck out 3 times in 4 innings, including the Magic Eagle, completing his 400th strikeout in his career in Taiwan.
Taiwan Steel's Qiu Lizhen took over in the 3rd inning. In the 5th inning, he faced the first batter Zhang Renwei and struck out. Zhang Renwei immediately stole a base and then relied on Zeng Songen's fly ball to cover the third base. Wang Weichen and Jiang Kunyu made timely hits, and CITIC Brothers scored another 2 points.
In the 7th inning, Zhang Renwei hit a hit from Wu Youcheng. Zeng Songen then hit a double, and the brothers added another insurance run. Taiwan Steel changed pitches again. Rookie left-hander Chen Chongguang made his debut in his career, and was hit by Wang Weichen with an RBI hit. Song Shengrui received a walk, and after 1 out, Huang Weisheng hit a hit with an RBI.
In the 8th inning, Xie Baoqi received a walk and a hit during his pitching tenure, causing the bases to be loaded with no outs. Wang Weichen and Jiang Kunyu hit hits to widen the score difference.
In the 9th inning, Chen Hu pitched two outs in a row. At this time, the brothers deliberately replaced veteran Li Zhenchang for the last one. Facing the last batter of the campaign, Yan Qinghao, he hit a fly ball and was out.
