Su Jien-rong's blooper single to shallow-right scored Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan from second base to give the Sinon Bulls a 2-1 victory over the Macoto Cobras in extra innings in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League at Taichung on Sunday.
The two-hop throw from Cobras right-fielder Yang Rei-chih actually beat Chang to the plate in plenty of time, but catcher Wu Jau-hui failed to hold on to the ball after Chang knocked it loose in a head-on collision at the plate.
The Bulls lost the season opener to the Cobras 11-6 on Saturday.
Sunday's contest began with the serpents taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on the strength of slugger Hsieh Jia-shien's solo blast off Bulls starter Alfredo Gonzalez to give last year's home run champ a pair of homers after only two games.
The 1-0 lead for Macoto lasted less than an inning as the Bulls' Chang promptly evened things up at 1-all with a towering shot over the center-field wall off Cobras starter Hsu Chu-jien in the bottom of the second inning.
After yielding the early homers, both starters quickly settled in and pitched six scoreless innings before handing a 1-1 tie to their respective bullpens.
Bulls reliever Jorge Cortez entered the game in the top of the ninth with a man on second and no outs and managed to get out of the jam by getting a key strikeout and two ground outs to strand runners at the corners to end the inning.
Cortez then pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings for the win.
Cobras reliever Jose Paniagua was equally effective, with three innings of two-hit ball. But Wu's inability to hold on to the ball at home plate led to the first loss for the Dominican righty.
Unlike the efficient offense that scored 11 runs on 15 hits the night before, none of the eight hits (not counting Hsieh's homer) by the Cobras offense produced a single run, going 0-for-4 with men in scoring position.
Chang was named the MVP for his role in both of the Bulls' scoring plays -- the first being the solo homer and the second for belting a leadoff double in the 11th inning and then knocking loose the relay throw to score the winning run.
"It was a good overall effort on our part," Bulls manager Liu Rong-hua said after the game, "I'm just really glad that we came away with the win."
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