Liu Fu-hao's sacrifice-fly with men at the corners scored the game-winner in the top of the ninth as the President Lions beached the Chinatrust Whales 2-1 at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Thursday to sweep the two-game series for the week.
The speedy outfielder, who entered the game with an impressive six-game hitting streak, managed to drive a pitch from the Whales' Du Chang-wei deep enough to outfield to bring home the game-clincher, even though his hitting streak came to a halt with a 0-for-3 outing on the night.
"I'm glad I was able to contribute, even though the hitting streak had to end tonight," Liu said after the game
It was a big win for the defending champs not only in term of it being their first series sweep of the season, but also because it left them top of the league standings.
The classic pitchers' duel between foreign starters Gregory Wiltshire of Australia for the Lions and Steve Watkins of the US for the Whales saw both offenses held to one lone hit through the first four frames in a scoreless tie before the Lions came through with a two-out single by Kao Chih-kang to lead it 1-0 in the top of the fifth.
The lead lasted less than an inning as the Whales answered with the equalizer the bottom of the same inning when Kuo Dai-yong also delivered a clutch single with two outs and men on first and second to tie the game at 1-all.
That was all the scoring that either team would have with Wiltshire standing strong through the sixth and Watkins topping out after the eighth on 114 pitches before handing the ball to his bullpen.
As for the Whales, Watkins' four-hit gem over eight brilliant innings did not materialize into a win, while Du took the loss for giving up the game-winner to Liu.
BEARS 8, BULLS 0
Behind a strong performance by US southpaw Andrew Lorraine, the La New Bears blanked the Sinon Bulls in an overpowering 8-0 shutout on the road Thursday evening to salvage a series-split with the Bulls in Taichung.
Following a decent campaign last year with the Bears during which he finished with a 4-1 record in eight starts, Lorraine was invited to return as the featured lefty on the La New rotation.?And he more than answered the call on the night with seven scoreless innings of six-hit ball while fanning five to earn his first win of the season.
Offensively for the Bears, Lin Chih-sheng and Tseng Hao-jui each connected for three hits to account for half of the dozen rung up against a shorthanded Sinon pitching staff.
The Bulls had their scoring chances against Lorraine with runners placed in scoring position on several occasions. But with a combined hitting of 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, none of the runners managed to make it home to break up the shutout.
Taking the loss on behalf of the Bulls was starter Shen Fu-ren who cruised through the fourth with minimal trouble before giving up a pair of runs during the fifth and sixth en route to his first loss of the year.
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