Three unanswered runs by the Sinon Bulls late in the game helped the defending CPBL champs rally past the La New Bears 7-6 in Hsinchu on Sunday.
The victory gave the Bulls a 3-1 record in the four-game series against the league leaders, as they rose two spots to the No. 4 slot in the standings.
Following their 4-2, come-from-behind win over the Bears in Douliou on Friday, the series finale moved to Hsinchu on a windy Sunday afternoon.
And like the first three contests, the Bears drew first blood with three first-inning runs on third baseman Todd Betts' two-run single off Bulls starter Yang Jien-fu before first baseman Pan Chung-wei followed with a sacrifice fly to left field.
The Bulls then fought back with a pair of runs in the second and third innings off La New rookie starter Tsai Ying-fong on catcher Yeh Jung-chang's two-run single and cleanup man Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's two-run homer to take a 4-3 lead.
Pan's solo blast to deep-left off Yang tied the game up at 4-all in the top of the sixth before the Bears went ahead 5-4 in the seventh on Betts' RBI ground out to third off Bulls reliever Alfredo Gonzalez after sluggers Lin Chih-sheng and Chen Chin-fong got on base via a walk and a double, respectively, to take second and third base.
After the Bears's Shih Chih-wei made it 6-4 on a run-scoring chopper to second in the top of the eighth, the Bulls came up with a run in the eighth and ninth innings to send the game into extra innings before winning it in the 10th on second-year catcher Cheng Hong-da's game-winning hit.
American righty Clint Weibl earned his league-leading fourth win of the season with 2-2/3 innings of one-hit relief work, while his counterpart Hsu Chih-hua took the loss for allowing the final three Bulls' runs on six hits and three walks over 2-1/3 innings -- losing his first save of the year.
Lions 2, Whales 1
Chen Jia-wei's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a 1-all deadlock for the President Lions as they successfully defended their home turf in Tainan with a 2-1 win over the Chinatrust Whales.
The game began with the marine creatures wasting no time in getting to Lions starter Eric Cyr with a leadoff double off the American lefty before Huang Kwei-yu's opposite-field single two outs later gave the Whales a quick 1-0 lead.
The Lions promptly responded with a game-tying run in the bottom of the first, courtesy of left-fielder Lin Hong-yuan's one-run double off Whales starter Kao Jien-san.
What had appeared to be a fast start by both squads suddenly turned into a pitching duel as neither team managed to plate another run for the next five innings until Chen's clutch double made it 2-1 in favor of the home cats.
The Whales made it interesting with Tseng Jia-shien's rare triple off Cyr leading off the top of the eighth, but the lefty was able to dodge a big bullet by striking out the next batter before inducing an infield fly and an outfield fly to strand the runner at third.
Lions closer Tseng Yi-cheng pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year, preserving the win for Cyr, who won his second straight start with eight solid innings of one-run ball on five hits.
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