BASEBALL / Monkeys 1 win from CPBL title after defeating Brothers in Taoyuan

Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) The Rakuten Monkeys are now one win away from the franchise's 8th overall Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) title after defeating the visiting CTBC Brothers in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Taiwan Series in Taoyuan Sunday.

With the game tied at one a piece, Monkeys' left-fielder Chen Chen-wei(陳晨威) broke the deadlock in the bottom of the eighth inning when he sent Brothers' reliever Wu Chun-wei's (吳俊偉) pitch over the right hand wall.

After Chen's two-run homer put the home team ahead 3-1, Monkeys closer Chu Cheng-yang (朱承洋) kept the Brothers scoreless in the 9th inning to secure the win in front of a crowd of 18,000.

The game had been, until its closing stages, a classic pitchers duel between Brothers' starter Nivaldo Rodríguez and Monkeys' Pedro Fernandez.

Following three scoreless innings, Rodríguez gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the 3rd inning, due to catcher Kao Yu-chieh's (高宇杰) error, giving the home team an 1-0 lead.

In total, Rodríguez threw 95 pitches over seven innings, giving up two runs (one un-earned) on four hits, two walks, with seven strikeouts.

Fernandez, meanwhile, gave up one run in the top of the 4th inning after Brothers' No. 4 slugger Hsu chi-hung (許基宏) nailed his pitch over the center-field wall to tie the game.

Fernandez was pulled from the mound after six innings and 101 pitches, during which he gave up one run on four hits and struck out 10.

Sunday's game was originally set to take place at Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium on Wednesday but was postponed to Sunday, after incessant rain over the past few days flooded the field at Monkeys' home turf.

The potentially deciding Game 5 will be held at Brothers' home at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on Monday.

According to CPBL records, teams that took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven CPBL championship series won the title 82.4 percent of the time.

The Monkeys are aiming for their overall 8th CPBL title since their founding in 2003, having won one CPBL title as the La New Bears in 2006 and six as the Lamigo Monkeys.

The title will also be the first for the Taoyuan-based team after the Japan-based Rakuten Group, Inc. acquired it in 2020 and gave it its current name.