Zeng Sheng-an's Three-Run Homer Gives Dragons 2-0 Taiwan Series Lead

A nervous debut becomes the deciding moment

At 20 years and 204 days old, Zeng Sheng-an turned a fielding mistake into a championship breakthrough. The Wei Chuan Dragons right fielder hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning at Taipei Dome on October 18, 2026, lifting his team to a 3-1 victory over the CTBC Brothers and a 2-0 lead in the Taiwan Series.

Zeng became the youngest player in Dragons history to homer in the Chinese Professional Baseball League championship series, breaking Chang Tai-shan's record of 22 years and four days. Only one player in league history had done it younger: the Brothers' Yueh Cheng-hua, who was 19 years and 277 days old when he homered in the 2020 series.

The swing supplied all three Dragons runs before a crowd of 39,568. It also brought an immediate answer to Zeng's error in the top of the same inning, which helped CTBC score its first run of the series.

Wei Chuan now needs two more victories to secure its sixth CPBL championship. The Brothers must win four of the next five possible games to take the title.

Why the Dragons trusted their youngest home run hitter

Zeng was making his first Taiwan Series appearance, starting in right field and batting ninth, the final position in the batting order. Coaches selected him partly because of his previous success against Brothers starter Félix Peña.

His regular season record offered a small but useful reason for that choice. Zeng had hit one home run in 41 appearances with the senior team during the season and four across his career. One of those career home runs had come against Peña.

Zeng admitted before Game 2 that the occasion was getting to him. Preparing beside the field during the opening game had given him goosebumps, and he was still shaking during batting practice the following day. He worried that his nerves might affect his concentration once the game began.

His selection therefore placed a young player with limited home run production into a demanding assignment, while giving him another opportunity against a pitcher he had already managed to hit for power.

One inning changes the game twice

The first four innings ended without a run. CTBC finally broke through in the top of the fifth, when Kao Yu-chieh and Sung Sheng-jui hit consecutive singles with one out.

Zeng mishandled Sung's hit to right field, allowing the Brothers to put runners on second and third. Chang Jen-wei then hit an infield ground ball that brought home the opening run. A groundout can score a runner even when the batter is retired, provided the runner reaches home during the play.

Wei Chuan answered immediately. Chen Tzu-hao reached base on a fielding error by Brothers first baseman Chen Chun-hsiu, and Chiang Shao-hung followed with a single. Zeng stepped up with two teammates on base and drove a Peña fastball over the right field wall.

The home run brought all three runners home, changing a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead with one swing. It was the first home run by either team in this year's Taiwan Series at Taipei Dome.

Zeng later said coaches and veteran teammates had encouraged him to put the fielding mistake behind him and concentrate on his next chance to help. He finished with one hit in three at bats, three runs batted in and the game's Most Valuable Player award.

A rare home run in Dragons history

Zeng's achievement reached beyond the age record. His shot was only the second home run worth three runs in the Dragons' Taiwan Series history, and the first in 36 years.

Sun Chao-li had hit the team's previous three-run homer in the ninth inning during the league's inaugural season in 1990. Wei Chuan has never hit a grand slam, a home run with all three bases occupied, in the championship series.

Zeng also became the third youngest player to appear for the Dragons in a Taiwan Series. Wang Chien-chiang was 19 years and 243 days old in 1999, while Chang Tai-shan was 19 years and 364 days old in 1996.

Those records place Zeng's debut among several generations of Dragons players. His immediate contribution was unusually concentrated: a player with one regular season home run supplied every run Wei Chuan needed to win Game 2.

Mercedes holds the lead as Peña exits hurt

Dragons starter Cristopher Mercedes gave the offense time to find its decisive swing. He threw 85 pitches over six innings, allowing five hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out three.

Mercedes earned the victory with what baseball calls a quality start: at least six innings pitched with no more than three earned runs allowed. Wei Chuan then kept CTBC scoreless through the final three innings.

Peña took the loss after allowing four hits, three walks and three runs, two of them earned, while striking out three. He completed four innings and two outs, commonly written as 4.2 innings in baseball statistics.

His outing ended after another difficult moment in the fifth. Following Zeng's home run, Li Kai-wei hit a ball back toward the mound that struck Peña's right foot. Peña completed the out but left the game, with Tsai Chi-che taking over.

Zeng also needed help leaving the field after his plate appearance in the bottom of the seventh. The Dragons said he had a thigh cramp. No update on either player's availability for Game 3 was given.

Why the Brothers' scoring drought has two totals

CTBC's fifth inning run ended 13 consecutive scoreless innings at the start of this Taiwan Series: nine in the 3-0 defeat in Game 1 and four more to begin Game 2. The Brothers scored for the first time in the series' 14th inning.

The team's longer championship drought reached 18 innings when the end of the 2025 Taiwan Series is included. Five scoreless innings from that final game, which lasted 11 innings, carried into this year's opening 13. That total surpassed the Brothers' previous championship record of 15 consecutive innings without scoring.

CTBC had endured an even longer wait for its first run within a single series in 2025, when it scored in the 16th inning of the championship. This year, its breakthrough came two innings earlier.

The Brothers also stopped a shorter drought when Chen Chun-hsiu singled in the first inning of Game 2. That hit ended five consecutive innings without a hit stretching back to the opener. Across the two completed games, however, CTBC still managed only one run in 18 innings.

Hirano wants runners on base against elite pitching

Brothers manager Keiichi Hirano credited the Dragons' opening two starters, including Mercedes, with anticipating hitters' thinking and making pitch selection difficult to predict. His response focused on reaching base and creating pressure that might lead to mistakes.

The top of CTBC's batting order has been a particular concern. Chang Jen-wei and Chang Shih-lun each went hitless in eight at bats across the first two games, leaving them a combined 0 for 16.

Hirano switched their positions between games. Chang Shih-lun batted first in the opener, with Chang Jen-wei second; the order was reversed for Game 2. Neither arrangement produced a hit from the pair, although Chang Jen-wei's groundout drove in the team's only run.

Both players had helped the Brothers recover from last place in the first half of the season to win the second half. Hirano wanted them to use the experience of facing the Dragons' leading pitchers to better understand their task: get aboard and make the following hitters' opportunities more productive.

CTBC had entered the final after an 8-2 playoff victory over the Uni Lions on October 12. In that deciding game, the Brothers scored in five consecutive innings. Against Wei Chuan, their offense has struggled to build a comparable sequence.

Big crowds watch a series decided by small margins

Taipei Dome drew 40,000 spectators for the opening game and 39,568 for Game 2, a combined attendance of 79,568. Sunday's crowd was only 432 below the opener's total.

Wei Chuan's two victories have come despite missed opportunities. In the first inning of Game 2, Li Kai-wei reached on a bunt single but was caught stealing. Kuo Tien-hsin walked and advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt, then was caught trying to steal third.

Chang Cheng-yu followed with a hit, but the Dragons finished the inning without scoring. It was only the second time in Taiwan Series history that a team had two runners caught stealing in one inning.

Those outs helped keep the game scoreless until the fifth. CTBC then converted Zeng's error into a run, only for Wei Chuan to turn a Brothers error, a single and a home run into three. The scoring remained confined to that one inning.

Game 3 offers CTBC its next chance

The teams have Monday, October 19, off before returning to Taipei Dome for Game 3 on Tuesday, October 20. CTBC will become the designated home team, batting in the bottom half of each inning, although the venue stays the same.

The series timeline shows how quickly the Brothers' position has changed:

• October 12: CTBC beats the Uni Lions 8-2 to reach its first Taiwan Series against Wei Chuan.
• October 17: The Dragons win the opener 3-0 before 40,000 spectators.
• October 18: Zeng's three-run homer delivers a 3-1 Dragons victory and a 2-0 series lead.
• October 19: The series pauses for a day off.
• October 20: Game 3 is scheduled at Taipei Dome, with CTBC designated as the home team.

CPBL championship history gives Wei Chuan a strong position. Teams leading a series requiring four wins by 2-0 have gone on to take the title 89.5 percent of the time. Teams losing the first two games have won 10.5 percent of those series.

The two successful comebacks belonged to the Dragons in 1997 and the EDA Rhinos in 2016. Both won four consecutive games after losing the opening two, defeating the China Times Eagles and CTBC respectively. The Brothers now face the same requirement to recover from an early deficit, starting with finding more offense on Tuesday.

Key Points

• Wei Chuan beat CTBC 3-1 on October 18 to lead the Taiwan Series 2-0.
• Zeng Sheng-an hit the deciding three-run homer in his championship debut and won the game's MVP award.
• At 20 years and 204 days, Zeng became the Dragons' youngest Taiwan Series home run hitter and the league's second youngest.
• Cristopher Mercedes allowed one run over six innings to earn the victory.
• The Brothers scored only one run across the opening two games.
• Game 3 is scheduled for October 20 at Taipei Dome, with CTBC designated as the home team.