Sinon Bulls creep to top of standings

Winning two out of three games in their home stand against the sagging President Lions, the Sinon Bulls have gradually advanced into a three-way tie with the Lions and the Brother Elephants.

The club that sent a league-high five players to represent Taiwan in the Athens Summer Olympics bounced back from a series-opening loss to the Lions with a 13-5 victory earlier last week, finishing with a pair of wins.

Game 2 of the series in Taichung on Saturday had the Bulls up 2-0 in the third inning after team captain Huang "Big Brother Tung" Chung-yi's (黃忠義) two-run, opposite-field single.

Lions first baseman Kao Guo-ching (高國慶) answered with a solo shot in the fourth off Bulls starter Kuo Yung-chih (郭勇志) and shortstop Yang Seng's (陽森) RBI liner in the fifth to even things up at 2-2.

A wild throw by Lions second baseman Yang Tung-yi (陽東益) then scored the runner from third to give the Bulls the lead in the fifth before they added an insurance run in the following inning to make it 4-2.

Lions starter Jose Alberro was tagged with the loss for allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits over six frames in the defeat, while Bulls starter Kuo upped his record to 6-5 with the win.

The showdown between two Olympians, Yang Jien-fu (陽建福) of the Bulls and Lions second-year man Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen (潘威倫), went Yang's way in a 5-1 decision on Sunday, but the game was much closer than the final score would indicate.

Pan, winner of two games in Athens, fell behind early by yielding a second-inning solo homer to Bulls' cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (張泰山).

Even though his Lions mates got the run back in the following inning, Pan fell behind again in the bottom of the third, when Chang's soft grounder scored the runner from third in a fielder's choice with one out and the bases loaded.

The 2-1 deficit proved to be insurmountable for the Lions as Yang was in full control from the fourth inning on -- baffling the Lions lineup with four shutout innings before being relieved in the eighth.

Four straight base hits off Lions reliever Kao Lung-wei (高龍偉) by the Bulls offense rang up three more runs in the eighth, putting the game out of reach for the Lions.

The Lions have lost four of their last five games.

ELEPHANTS VERSUS BULLS

The Elephants' bid for a clean sweep of the Macoto Cobras fell one run short on Saturday in Kaohsiung as they lost the series finale 6-5.

After taking the first three contests by a combined margin of 14 to 4, the defending champs seemed ready to claim their second straight series sweep of the serpents this year with a three-run rally in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 5-5.

Catcher Chen Rei-chang's (陳瑞昌) two-bagger off Cobra closer Bienvenido Rivera scored the game-tying run from third to cap off a three-run eighth that brought the momentum back on the Elephants' side after they had trailed the Cobras for most of the game.

Newly acquired third baseman Pedro Santana then saved the day for the Cobras by smashing a pitch off the right-center wall for a triple to score the game-winner in a wild 6-5 finish in favor of the Cobras.

Rivera might have wound up with the victory, but the Dominican righty sure lost the confidence of skipper Kuo Tai-yuan (郭泰源) who watched his closer in three consecutive shaky outings.

BEARS VERSUS WHALES

A four-run third inning and a five-run fourth led to victory for the La New Bears in Game 2 of their three-game visit to the Chinatrust Whales on Friday night.