A lone mascot amidst the empty stands of Fubon Guardians’ Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium did nothing to trounce the visiting Chinatrust Brothers. It was the opposite result, with the Brothers destroying their opponent 11-0. Even though Fuban won the two previous meetings against Chinatrust this April, we correctly picked a Brothers win for Friday’s game. Will they also win the second of the three game weekend series? Both teams have a 3-5 record. Vegas odds currently favor a Fubon revenge story, giving them -165 odds to win.
The Chinatrust Brothers are feeling the love from the baseball gods after shutting out the Fubon Guardians on Friday. They had a whopping 21 hits en route to their near-dozen runs, but surprisingly not one came from a home run. First baseman Wei-Da Su, who is entering his sixth season with Chinatrust, had a team-high four hits in six at bats to bring his batting average up to nearly .300. As expected, Cuban Ariel Miranda (1.50 ERA) was the starting pitcher and he put together a stellar start to embarrass Fubon’s hitters for six straight innings. Going into this three game series the Brothers averaged just 3.71 runs per game, which has now jumped up to 4.625 runs per game. There’s still a lot of work to do to move up in the standings, but they’re now off to a good start. They now just need to send a couple of balls over the fence of Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium.
Dominican transplant Esmil Rogers (right-hander) is starting on the mound for Chinatrust this Saturday.
Betting on the Fubon Guardians (-165)
3-5 Regular Season Record
The Fubon Guardians fell apart on Friday, making their previous 2-0 record (this season) against the Chinatrust Brothers a distant memory. Guardians pitcher Jiang Guohao won’t likely be starting again this weekend (or anytime soon) after giving up 14 of the Brothers 21 hits, 10 of which resulted in runs. Henry Sosa (1.93 ERA) was expected to start Friday’s game, and we can bet team manager Chen Lien-hung wishes he went with the former Major Leaguer. Sosa will indeed be pitching for the Guardians for Saturday’s game which is why Vegas odds have swung back to favor Fubon.
Writer’s Prediction
The Fubon Guardians get revenge to tie the weekend series up, winning 10-8.
