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CPBL: Liu pitches Brother Elephants past La New Bears

Behind the strong pitching of starter Liu Jung-nan, the Brother Elephants edged the La New Bears 2-1 in Sinjhuang on Saturday evening to snap a three-game losing streak.

The fourth-year right-hander from Taipei Physical Education College five-hit the defending champs in six solid frames of one-run ball before the Elephants bullpen did its part with three innings of scoreless relief to preserve the hard-earned victory.

The classic pitchers' duel between Liu and Bear starter Huang Jung-chung saw nothing but goose eggs on the board through the first four innings, with Liu allowing just a pair of infield singles and a walk and Huang equally effective in a one-hit effort.

Then came the decisive fifth inning. The visiting Bears struck first with Lin Jing-ping's one-run single that scored Shih Chih-wei with a standup double off Liu.

However, the Bears' lead lasted less than an inning as the Elephants answered with two runs of their own, via a pair of errors by the Bears defense and RBI singles by Fong Sheng-shien and Lin Ming-shien.

That turned out to be all the scoring that either offense could muster as the pitchers dominated the rest of the game.

Setup man Wang Jing-li was credited with his second hold of the season with two-and-a-third innings of stellar relief, while closer Todd Moser retired the final two Bears hitters to collect his fifth save of the year.

Huang, who made a rare start for the Bears, pitched well enough for a win but was let down by a lack of offense. He allowed two runs (both unearned) on seven hits over five-and-a-third innings of play to record his fourth loss of the year.

The game was not without controversy as a seemingly-good solo home run by the Bears' Lin Chih-sheng in the top of the first was ruled a foul ball by third-base umpire Lin Fu-chuan.

In Saturday night's other game, the President Lions defeated the Macoto Cobras 9-6.
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