Yeh Jung-chang's two-run double off Macoto Cobras closer Rene Miniel in the bottom of the eighth forced a 6-6 tie for the Sinon Bulls in Sunday's series finale at Douliou, giving the Bulls' their first non-losing week of play in nearly two months.
The defending Chinese Professional Baseball League champs had beaten the Cobras in the first two games of the series and appeared a bit short in Sunday's game when the Cobras scored three times in the top of the eighth to take a 6-4 lead on second baseman Deng Shih-yang's RBI single and right fielder Yang Rei-chih's two-run double.
But Yeh made sure that his club would not go home losers with one solid swing.
The seesaw battle between the top two squads in the league had the Bulls striking first in the opening frame on cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's RBI liner to left before the serpents responded with three unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings for a 3-1 lead.
Chang got his team back to within a run in the fourth on a solo home run off Cobras starter Lin En-yu to make it 3-2 before the Bulls regained a 4-3 advantage with a two-run sixth on back-to-back scoring drives by Hsu Guo-rong and Luo Song-yong.
Bulls 6, Cobras 2
Chang's 3-for-4 night with a pair of RBIs propelled the Bulls to a 6-2 win in Taichung on Saturday and helped turned Bulls ace starter Lenin Picota into the league's first 14-game winner this season.
As in Sunday's game, the Bulls struck first with a two-run third on outfielders Chang Jien-ming's RBI ground-out and Yu Shien-ming's one-run double.
They would add to their lead with a run in the fifth inning after shortstop Chang Jia-hao's run-scoring ground-out, before the Cobras countered with two runs of their own in the top of the sixth on Deng's two-run line drive to center field, making it 3-2.
That was as close as the Cobras would get with Picota on the mound, while the Bulls hitters rang up three more runs -- two off game-loser Lin Ying-jeh and another off reliever Tsai Shih-ching -- to complete their 6-2 rout of the first-half champs.
Bulls 5, Cobras 2
The home Bulls were also victorious in Thursday's series opener at Taichung in a 5-2 decision that made it two wins in a row for Panamanian newcomer Jorge Cortez.
Despite surrendering an early solo blast to the Cobras' Mario Encarnacion to fall behind 1-0, Cortez was in total control over the 7-1/3 innings he worked. He didn't give up another run before being relieved by Kuo Yong-chih one out into the eighth with a 3-1 lead.
The Bulls added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on outfielder Tseng Hua-wei's run-scoring single to shallow-left and designated hitter Chen Tsung-fu's ground-out to second, good for another run.
Other games
The Brother Elephants won their four-game series against the La New Bears 3-1 with a pair of high-scoring wins on Friday and Saturday (11-6 and 6-4, respectively).
Bears slugger Pan Chung-wei's solo homer off Elephants closer Wu Bao-shien in extra innings last Wednesday that gave the Bears a 3-2 win was the only thing that stood between the resurgent Elephants.
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