2013 Taiwan Series

The 2013 Taiwan Series featured the Uni-President Lions sweeping the EDA Rhinos. The Series MVP was Lions infielder Kuo-Ching Kao.

Teams

Uni-President Lions

The Lions were led by Lien-Hung Chen. They were 30-25-5 in the first half then 32-26-2 to win the second half title. Their offense was led by RBI leader Tai-Shan Chang (.289/.329/.417, 31 2B, 90 RBI), Yung-Chi Chen (.314/.376/.436) and Chih-Wei Teng (.308/.357/.478, 29 2B). The staff was led by Nelson Figueroa (10-4, 2.72), Ching-Ming Wang (9-3, 2.93), Yueh-Ping Lin (2-4, 20 Sv, 2.66) and Chien-San Kao (3-4, 3 Sv, 2.15).

EDA Rhinos

The Rhinos were guided by Chi-Chen Tseng, who took over late in the year after Sheng-Ming Hsu had a heart attack. They won the first half title at 31-24-5 but finished last at 27-33 in the second half. Their top batters were average and home run leader Yi-Chuan Lin (.357/.415/.549, 18 HR), who was helped by former major leaguer Chin-lung Hu (.344/.368/.466, 27 2B, 71 R) and Kuo-Hui Lo (.350/.411/.566, 31 2B). On the mound, Chen-Hua Lin (15-8, 3.71) had led the league in wins and Andy Sisco (8-6, 2.70) had led in ERA but Sisco was let go in late August so was unavailable for the Series.

Games

• October 26: Lions 10, Rhinos 7. The Lions opened with a win in a slugfest that started off as anything but. Matt Torra of the Rhinos and Figueroa (for the Lions) each allowed two runs in the first six innings. In the 7th, Ying-Jeh Lin relieved Torra but gave up back-to-back hits, balked then gave up a sacrifice fly to 2B Chih-Hsiang Lin. RF Dai-Chi Kuo doubled in a run. With one away, DH Tai-Shan Chang and SS Yung-Chi Chen both contributed RBI hits. 1B Chih-Wei Teng closed the 8-run inning with a 3-run dinger off Wen-Cheng Hsu. The Rhinos rallied with one run in the 8th and 4 in the 9th, including a homer by CF Chin-lung Hu. They had two on and two outs with the tying run up but Luis Vizcaino got a game-ending out. Figueroa got the win, Ying-Jeh Lin the loss.

• October 27: Lions 4, Rhinos 2. At Tainan Municipal Stadium, the Rhinos dropped a second game. The Lions scored first on a RBI single by Chih-Wei Teng but the road team scored twice in the 4th off Ching-Lung Lo to go up. In the 6th, the Lions tied it on a double by Kuo-Ching Kao off Nick Green. In the bottom of the 8th, the Lions got two men in scoring position then Ming-Chin Tsai threw a game-losing wild pitch; he later walked in another run. Yu-Kang Fu got the win.

• October 29: Lions 3, Rhinos 2. The Lions scored one run in the second off Chen-Hua Lin, their only run in the first 7 against Lin (5 IP) and Chien-Fu Yang (2 IP). Ching-Ming Wang shut the Rhinos out for 5, but in the 6th LF Chien-Ming Chang reached and 1B Yi-Chuan Lin homered for a 2-1 edge. In the 8th, the Lions tied it, then won it in the 9th off reliever Juan Morillo.

• October 30: Lions 9, Rhinos 2. The Lions' Wei-Lun Pan and Rhinos' Matt Torra each allowed one run in 7 innings in a fine pitching duel. The game was 2-2 going into the 10th when the Lions exploded for 7 runs to win the Series. Luis Vizcaino took the win, Nick Green the loss. DH Tai-Shan Chang and 3B Kuo-Ching Kao each had 3 hits for the victors, while LF Da-Hung Cheng had 3 hits in a losing effort.

Sources

• CPBL website
• Taipei Times