Late-inning heroics brought the President Lions to their first undefeated week of play in nearly four months as they forced a 2-2 tie against Chinese Professional Baseball League-leading Macoto Cobras on outfielder Liu Fu-hao's RBI single on the final at-bat on Friday before Darryl Brinkley's solo home run, again on the final at-bat, gave them a 1-0 victory over the serpents on Sunday.
Wet weather last week cut the scheduled three-game series in Tainan short to just a pair of games, starting with Friday's series opener that had the Cobras leading 2-1 after six innings of play on designated hitter Chiou Chang-rong's two-run single in the top of the sixth off Lions starter Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen.
Macoto lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh, who kept the home Lions to a lone run on six hits over seven solid innings, was one out away from his league-best 12th win of the year when the Lions' Liu smashed a two-out liner to left off Cobras closer Rene Miniel to score the game-tying run.
Lions 1, Cobras 0
Sunday's contest remained scoreless through the first eight innings as rookie starters Lin "Little Chick" En-yu (Cobras) and Lin "Pancake" Yueh-ping (Lions) both pitched well.
Lin En-yu, the clear front-runner to win this year's Rookie of the Year honor, allowed only three hits in 8-1/3 masterful innings prior to serving up the game-winning solo homer to Lions slugger Brinkley.
As for his counterpart Lin Yueh-ping, none of the seven hits and four walks that the Cobras collected off him in eight innings came with runners in scoring position.
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Lin Yueh-ping said after the game. "I was lucky today."
The loss by Lin En-yu was his fifth of the season and second in a row.
Lions closer Mike Garcia worked a scoreless ninth for the win to improve to 5-3 for the year.
Elephants 2, Bulls 0, 12 innings
Third baseman Wang Jin-yong' two-out, RBI single off Sinon Bulls reliever Yu Wen-pin in the top of the 12th inning broke a scoreless tie and outfielder Chen Huai-shan followed with another run-scoring single to give the Brother Elephants a 2-0 win in Taichung on Sunday.
The showdown between two of the league's top pitchers (Jonathan Hurst of the Elephants and Lenin Picota of the Bulls) lived up to its billing, with Hurst turning in nine shutout innings and Picota matching him with eight scoreless frames in a classic pitcher's duel.
Elephants closer Wu Bao-shien pocketed the win for his three hitless innings of perfect relief, while Yu suffered the loss for yielding the game-winner.
Bears 2, Whales 1
The La New Bears made it two in a row with Friday's 2-1 victory over the Chinatrust Whales in Kaohsiung following Wednesday night's rain-shortened 3-0 win.
Cleanup man Pan Chung-wei's run-scoring single off game-loser Kao Jien-san after Lin Chih-sheng's leadoff double in the top of the sixth was the difference in the game.
Bears righty Lee Fong-hua earned his first win of the season in a rare start as the setup man changed roles and went seven strong innings for the hosts. He allowed one run on six hits while striking out five.
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