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Elephants show Cobras no mercy

Red-hot Elephants slugger Chen Huai-shan follows through on a swing in Tuesday night's 17-3 trouncing of the Macoto Cobras at Sinjhuang. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BROTHER ELEPHANTS

CPBL

Six first-inning runs by the Brother Elephants set the tone early in Tuesday night's match versus the Macoto Cobras at Sinjhuang as the Elephants cruised to a 17-3 rout on a 21-hit night.

Chen Huai-shan, the game's Most Valuable Player, tied the league record for most hits in a single game with five on a 5-for-6 night with five RBIs, while four other Elephants hitters also tied the 16-year-old league mark for most plate appearances with seven.

On a night when the ball seemed larger than a softball, the Elephants lineup took no mercy against seven different Macoto hurlers by scoring six in the first and seven more in the second to blow the game wide open before the Cobras even realized what had hit them.

Starter Fernando Hernandez, who has since been released by the Cobras, was chased two hits into the second inning for allowing eight of the 13 first-two inning runs on eight hits and a walk.

His successors did not fare particularly well either as they combined for four more runs to round out the night.

Compared with Hernandez, Elephants starter Yofu Tetsu was rock solid in picking up the win with six innings of three-run work on seven hits and five strikeouts. The opening-day starter for the resurging Elephants has won three straight after starting off the season with two poor outings off the mound.

All but two of the Elephants starters enjoyed multi-hit games, led by Chen's five, Wang Jin-yong's four, and Fong Sheng-shien and Chen Guan-ren's three hits each.

Bulls 4, Bears 2

Yeh Jung-chang's two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the second overcame an early 1-0 deficit against the La New Bears as the Sinon Bulls beat the league leaders by a 4-2 decision in Chiayi on Wednesday.

US righty Clint Weibl improved to a league-best 3-0 record with seven outstanding frames of one-run ball on five scattered hits for the defending champs, yielding the lone run on a solo blast to the Bears' Pan Chung-wei in the top of the second.

The Bulls would plate a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on first-baseman Hsu Guo-long's RBI single off La New reliever Liang Rue-hao, followed by a throwing error on defense that scored another run for the Bulls.

The Bears made it interesting in the ninth on Huang Long-yi's one-run double that scored Chen Fong-min, who also doubled to lead off the inning against Sinon reliever Yu Wen-pin. But that was as close as the Bears would come, with Yu managing to produce the final three outs in the inning to preserve the win for Weibl.

La New starter Gustavo Martinez was tagged with the loss for surrendering the first two Bulls runs on an off night that had the Dominican righty issuing five walks in six innings of work.

Whales 2, Lions 2 Whales 7, Lions 1

The Chinatrust Whales forced a 2-all tie on their visit to the President Lions in Tainan on Tuesday night with a pair of seventh-inning runs to start off the four-game set with a draw.

At home the cats wasted no time in the opening inning by ringing up two quick runs against Whales starter Steve Smyth with swinger Chen Lien-hong's two-run double off the right-center wall.

Despite the quick start by the Lions, the 2-0 lead would stand until the top of the seventh when Chen Wen-pin and Shih Jin-sho belted back-to-back RBI singles with two outs off Lions ace Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen to spoil what had been six-plus shutout innings for the former Rookie of the Year.

Wednesday's contest between the two clubs had the Whales striking first again on two third-inning runs before the Lions answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the third to trail the Whales 2-1.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Tim Hudson took a shutout into the ninth inning and pitched a three-hitter, and Andruw Jones hit his fifth homer in four games to help the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 2-1 on Wednesday.

Hudson (1-1) struck out six and walked one. He retired his first 15 batters before Ramon Castro's leadoff single in the sixth, and didn't allow a run until Jose Reyes doubled in the ninth and scored on Chris Woodward's single.

Cardinals 4, Pirates 0

In Pittsburgh, Chris Carpenter (2-1) limited the Pirates to two hits over eight innings, struck out six and walked one to lower his ERA to 1.67. Jason Isringhausen completed the two-hitter.

Jim Edmonds homered in the second off Victor Santos (1-3) and hit a two-run double in the ninth against Roberto Hernandez. David Eckstein homered in the third.

Reds 9, Marlins 8

In Cincinnati, Cincinnati tied it with three runs in the eighth, and Edwin Encarnacion hit a run-scoring double in the ninth off Todd Wellemeyer (0-1).

Dontrelle Willis, trying to improve to 10-0 career in April, turned an 8-4 lead over to Florida's bullpen after the sixth inning. The Marlins are 0-5 in one-run games.

Padres 13, Rockies 4

In Denver, Ben Johnson had a career-high four RBIs and Vinny Castilla had four hits.

San Diego had 19 hits for the second time this year and took two of three from the Rockies after being swept at home by Colorado from April 7 to April 9.

Phillies 7, Nationals 6

In Philadelphia, Ryan Howard's RBI single in the 10th inning completed a Philadelphia rally.

Bobby Abreu opened the 10th with a walk off Mike Stanton (0-2) and moved to second on Chase Utley's one-out walk. Howard then ripped a single to right to give the Phillies only their second home win in eight games.

Brewers 7, Astros 2

In Houston, Andy Pettitte lost to the Brewers for the first time since 1996 despite allowing only two runs. Coming off a 5-1 loss at Arizona, Pettitte (1-3) struck out eight and walked one in seven innings, allowing seven hits.

Houston has scored 12 runs in his four starts -- seven came in his lone victory, against Washington on April 9.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AP, TORONTO

Alex Rodriguez homered in his third straight game and Mike Mussina made another sharp start, leading the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Wednesday.

Mussina (2-1) struck out a season-high seven in 7 1-3 innings, allowing one run and seven hits. He lowered his ERA to 2.67.

Kyle Farnsworth got the last two outs of the eighth and Mariano Rivera, bouncing back from Saturday's loss in Minnesota, pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

White Sox 4, Royals 0

In Chicago, Javier Vazquez pitched a two-hitter over eight-plus innings and the White Sox sent the Kansas City Royals to their 10th straight loss. Vazquez took his no-hit bid into the seventh inning, but lost it on Doug Mientkiewicz's checked swing roller down the third-base line. He struck out seven and walked one.

Red Sox 9, Devil Rays 1

In Boston, Curt Schilling (4-0) opened a season with four straight winning starts for the first time in his career.

Backed by Boston's season-high, seven-run third, Schilling (4-0) allowing one run and six hits in six innings, lowering his ERA from 1.64 to 1.61. He tied Jim Bunning for 15th on the strikeouts list at 2,855.

Orioles 18, Indians 9

In Baltimore, Kevin Millar hit a go-ahead, two-run double in a seven-run fifth capped by Corey Patterson's two-run homer.

Ramon Hernandez had a home run and four RBIs, and Jay Gibbons hit a three-run homer for the Orioles, who have won five of seven.

Twins 12, Angels 10

In Minneapolis, pinch-hitter Michael Cuddyer hit a two-run homer against former teammate J.C. Romero (1-1) in the 10th.

Joe Nathan (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless inning, capping the Twins' comeback from a 9-4 deficit.

Mariners 9, Rangers 6

In Seattle, Carl Everett's three-run homer capped a five-run ninth inning as Seattle rallied to beat Texas.

Seattle scored four runs off Texas closer Francisco Cordero (1-2). Ichiro Suzki, who had four hits to break out of a 5-for-32 slump, was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth. Jose Lopez followed with a double before Raul Ibanez's sacrifice fly made it 6-5. Richie Sexson then had an RBI single to tie the game.

Tigers 11, Athletics 4

At Oakland, California, Kenny Rogers won again at the Coliseum and Placido Polanco got his 1,000th career hit and drove in three runs to lead Detroit past Oakland.

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