Going the distance in his first start of the year, Luther Hackman pitched a two-hit beauty to help the Uni-President Lions beat the Brother Elephants 3-1 at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon.
The win not only gave the Cats a clean sweep in the three-game series, but also propelled them past the La New Bears for sole possession of the second-place spot in the standings.
Hampered by an injury that had sidelined him for nearly two months, Hackman made sure the wait was worthwhile for Lions fans as he pitched perfect ball through the fifth before giving up a leadoff double to the Elephants’ Wang Sheng-wei and the lone run in the game two batters later on a single by Yu Jau-ren in the sixth.
Hackman would pitch out of trouble in the inning with two quick outs and retire all but the next nine hitters he faced to win it convincing fashion.
Offensively for the Cats, shortstop Liu Yu-cheng’s 3-for-4 hitting with a pair of RBIs accounted for half of his team’s total run production. Red-hot slugger Marshall McDougall also drove in a run with a double in the sixth to add to his league-leading 41 hits this year.
Brother starter Orlando Roman actually pitched well enough for the win with eight decent innings of work allowing three runs (only two earned) on nine hits, while fanning three and walking two. But it was not meant to be for the American right-hander as he was outdone by a superior Hackman to drop his second game of the year.
BEARS 5, BULLS 1
A four-run sixth by the La New Bears proved to be the difference in the game as they roughed up the Sinon Bulls in a 5-1 final at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to claim the weekend series by a margin of 2-1.
It was the second straight win for the visiting Bears after their dramatic 5-4 win in a 12-inning marathon that lasted nearly five hours on Saturday night
The home Bulls greeted the Bears with a first-inning run when Chang Jien-ming led off the game with an infield single and scored three batters later on Chang Tai-shan’s RBI single to left off Bears starter Chris Mason.
The 1-0 would remain through the fifth with neither offense able to score against Mason and his counterpart Chang Geng-hao until a four-run sixth that gave the Bears the lead for good.
Picking up his league-best fifth win of the year was Mason as he improved to a 5-1 record while the loss was charged against Bulls starter Chang Geng-hao who suffered his first defeat of the year with four allowed runs in six innings of play.
No CPBL games are scheduled for today.
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