Liu Tzu-chieh Hits Walk-off HR for First Career Homer, First in Team History, Leading Monkeys Past Dragons

In a dramatic match at the Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium on the 26th, the Rakuten Monkeys secured a 3-2 victory over the Wei Chuan Dragons. The game was a pitcher's duel early on, with Monkeys' Pedro Fernandez and Dragons' Drew Gagnon both pitching 6 scoreless innings. The Monkeys broke the deadlock in the 7th with a 2-RBI single by He Pin-shih-jung. However, the Dragons fought back in the 9th, tying the game 2-2. In the bottom of the 9th, Liu Tzu-chieh led off with a home run off Chen Kuan-wei. This was Liu's first career home run, making him the 12th in CPBL history and the first in Monkeys' franchise history to have a first home run be a walk-off. Manager Tseng Hao-chu praised the growth of young players like Liu and He, noting their ability to perform under pressure. Fernandez finished with 6 innings, 1 hit, and 8 strikeouts, while the win was credited to reliever Chu Cheng-yang.