Back-to-back wins by the President Lions over the home La New Bears in Kaohsiung earlier this week have propelled the big cats to a share of the lead with the Sinon Bulls atop the Chinese Professional Baseball League standings.
Tuesday's 8-3 decision had the Lions jumping to a 5-0 lead by the top of the fifth inning before the Bears answered with a run of their own in the same inning on first baseman Kuo Chang-ting's sacrifice fly to deep right field.
Kuo's counterpart, the Lions' first baseman Kao Guo-ching, added a two-run shot off Bears' reliever Dai Long-shui in the seventh inning to make it 7-1 in a game that was heavily dominated by the visiting club.
Pocketing the victory for the Lions was third-year righty Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen for his eight solid innings of work.
The former Rookie of the Year winner allowed three runs (only one earned) on six hits while fanning four for his second win of the season.
Lions 5, Bears 1
Doug Linton's three-hit gem (in seven frames) made things easy for the Lions' offense on Wednesday as they took Game 2 of the series by a final of 5-1.
The former Major League pitcher was nearly unhittabtle as he displayed pinpoint control.
Other than a two-hit third inning that led to the Bears' lone run of the game, Linton retired the side in order in five of the seven innings he pitched.
Offensively for the Lions, Dominican slugger Israel Alcantara continued his red-hot seven-game hitting streak with a 3-for-4 night which improved his league-leading batting average to .424.
His combined 5-for-8 hitting over the first two games of the series gave him a leg up over the Bears' Victor Rodriguez (hitless in eight at-bats of the series) in the much anticipated battle between the league's top two offensive threats.
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