Chu Hong-seng's two-run home run off Chinatrust Whales reliever Chu Wei-ming broke a one-all tie in the top of the ninth for the Brother Elephants as they beat the Whales 4-1 in Sinjhuang on Tuesday night to open this week's play with a win.
The classic pitchers' duel between the Elephants' Yofu Tetsu and the Whales' Steve Smyth went through six scoreless innings before the Elephants drew first blood on catcher Chen Rei-chang's run-scoring single to right with two outs off Whales reliever Edwin Minaya in the top of the seventh.
The Elephants' lead would last just an inning as the home Whales answered with an equalizer in the bottom of the eighth on outfielder Chi Jung-lin's blooper single to left off Yofu that evened things up at 1-1.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CPBL
The win gave Yofu his fourth victory of the season to tie him with the Sinon Bulls' Clint Weibl for the league's lead, while the loss by Chu dropped the righty to an even 2-2 record for the year.
Offensively for the Elephants, Fong Sheng-shien's 3-for-4 night led a resurging lineup that also included former batting champ Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min, who went 2-for-4 in his first game since returning from a season-ending wrist injury a year ago.
Bears 6, Lions 3
PHOTO: AP
The La New Bears opened their four-game visit to the President Lions with a 6-3 win in Tainan on Wednesday night.
Helped by a five-run fifth that turned a 0-3 deficit into a 5-3 lead, the Bears let off four innings of frustration by batting around the order against Lions starter Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen to deal the Loins ace his second loss of the season.
Canadian slugger Todd Betts singled to lead off the fifth for the Bears and scored two batters later on a groundout to second by Tseng Hao-ju to set Pan back after the Lions starter had retired the first 12 hitters he saw over four perfect innings.
Back-to-back doubles by Shih Chih-wei and Tsai Jien-wei, each good for a pair of runs with two outs, then put the Bears ahead 5-3 as Pan suddenly found himself trailing in a game for the first time in three games. The last time Pan trailed in a game was against the Elephant on April 11.
Betts' one-run double off Lions reliever Cheng Bo-ren in the eighth added an insurance run for the Bear to cap all the scoring for the night.
Bears starter Gustavo Martinez improved to 2-2 for the year with five-and-one-third innings of three-run ball. The Dominican right-hander was not particularly dominant in allowing six hits and five walks. But thanks to reliever Hsu Wen-hsiung, whose three-and-two-thirds innings of perfect rescue not only preserved the win for Martinez, but also earned Hsu him his third save of the season, en route to a game-MVP honor.
Offensively for the home cats, two first-inning runs via a pair of RBI groundouts by American newcomer Bryant Nelson and Lin Hong-yuan set them off to a good start which they failed to build on.
American League
Kevin Mench hit a grand slam, but Francisco Cordero blew another save and Jay Payton hit a two-run single in the 10th inning for the Oakland Athletics to beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 on Wednesday.
Mench set a Texas Rangers record by homering in his sixth straight game.
Texas led 4-3 until Dan Johnson led off the ninth with a homer off Cordero, who blew his third straight save chance. Payton's single off C.J. Wilson (1-2) went through a drawn-in infield gave him his first RBIs of the season. Justin Duchscherer (2-1) pitched two innings, and Joe Kennedy retired Hank Blalock on a bases-loaded flyout for his first save.
Angels 4, Tigers 0
At Anaheim, California, John Lackey (3-1) allowed one hit over eight innings -- a fifth-inning single by Craig Monroe -- and Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer in Anaheim's win over Detroit. Scot Shields finished the two-hitter.
Mike Maroth (3-1) allowed four runs, nine hits and four walks in six-plus innings.
Indians 7, Red Sox 1
At Cleveland, Cliff Lee gave Cleveland's banged-up bullpen some needed rest, and Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run homer.
Lee (2-1) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, helping the Indians end a three-game losing streak and win for just the fifth time in 14 games. Wily Mo Pena homered for Boston, which lost for the first time in seven games at Jacobs Field.
The Indians took a 3-0 lead in the first on Peralta's homer off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (1-4).
Blue Jays 8, Orioles 2
At Toronto, Vernon Wells homered twice and Alex Rios had three hits for Toronto.
Rios hit his sixth home run, a two-run shot off Erik Bedard, in the sixth. Wells followed with his first homer of the game off Sendy Rleal to give Toronto a 6-2 lead.
Wells hit a two-run drive in the eighth for his ninth homer of the season. The Blue Jays have won four of five.
Jeff Conine homered for Baltimore, which has lost four straight.
Toronto starter Ted Lilly (2-1) allowed two runs and six hits in five innings to get the win.
Bedard (4-1) gave up five runs and 10 hits in five-and-two-thirds innings.
Royals 3, Twins 1
At Kansas City, Missouri, Runelvys Hernandez allowed two hits and one run in seven innings in his first start of the season for Kansas City.
Banished to the minors at the start of the season for being overweight, Hernandez (1-0) struck out one and didn't walk a batter.
Elmer Dessens and Ambiorix Burgos completed the four-hitter, with Burgos getting his second save in three chances.
Justin Morneau homered for Minnesota in the fifth. Scott Baker (1-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Devil Rays 4, Yankees 2
At New York, Carl Crawford hit a tiebreaking double off Mariano Rivera (0-2) in the 10th inning and Tampa Bay beat New York, despite setting a team record by walking 14 batters.
Gary Sheffield hit a two-run homer for the Yankees, who fell to 1-9 when scoring fewer than six runs. They stranded 16 runners, the last three when Shawn Camp retired Sheffield on a bases-loaded grounder for his second save.
Jason Giambi drew four of New York's walks, but incredibly, none of the walked batters came around to score.
The Devil Rays snapped a four-game skid. Chad Orvella (1-1) pitched three hitless innings for the win, walking four.
Mariners 5, White Sox 1
At Seattle, Jarrod Washburn pitched into the seventh inning and Jose Lopez hit a two-run double to lead Seattle past Chicago.
The last-place Mariners took two of three from the first-place White Sox, who came into Seattle with a little bit of swagger after an eight-game winning streak. The one run was a season low for the defending World Series champions.
Washburn (2-3) worked six-and-two-thirds innings, allowing one run and four hits, all singles. He struck out four and walked one.
Mark Buehrle (3-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in seven innings to get the loss.
Raul Ibanez hit a solo homer for the Mariners.
National League
Chris Woodward lined a go-ahead double in the 11th inning and scored on Jose Reyes' single, lifting the New York Mets over the San Francisco Giants 9-7 on Wednesday.
Barry Bonds tied the score with a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth off Billy Wagner, his 711th home run. It was Bonds' third homer of the year and second in as many games. Bonds remained in the game to play left field, and appeared to have difficulty chasing Woodward's double off Scott Munter (0-1).
Darren Oliver (1-0) got the final out in the 10th and worked the 11th.
New York's Julio Franco, who is 47, became the second-oldest player to steal a base, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Arlie Latham swiped a bag in 1909 for the New York Giants at age 49.
Mets starter Brian Bannister strained his right hamstring in the sixth running the bases.
Cardinals 4, Pirates 3
At St. Louis, Albert Pujols hit a game-winning single off Roberto Hernandez (0-1) in the ninth after Jason Isringhausen (1-2) allowed a tying home run to Jose Hernandez in the top half. Isringhausen has allowed three homers in eight innings this season.
St. Louis completed a three-game sweep. The Cardinals are 29-10 against Pittsburgh since 2004 and swept the Pirates for the first time since May last year.
Marlins 7, Cubs 5
At Chicago, pinch-hitter Wes Helms hit a two-run double that broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth after Scott Williamson (2-1) walked the bases loaded, and former Cub Ricky Nolasco (1-0) got his first major league win.
Joe Borowski, another former Cub, got three outs for his third save, completing a four-hitter. Florida, managed by ex-Cub Joe Girardi, stopped its three-game losing streak and Chicago's three-game winning streak.
Brewers 5, Braves 4
At Milwaukee, Ben Sheets (1-2) struck out nine in six innings to win for the first time since tearing a back muscle last August. He allowed two runs and six hits.
Milwaukee won three straight for its first sweep of any length over Atlanta since moving from the American League to the National League in 1998.
Closer Derrick Turnbow got his eighth save in eight chances. Jorge Sosa (0-4) gave up four runs -- all unearned due to errors by first baseman Adam LaRoche and third baseman Chipper Jones -- in five-and-one-third innings.
Reds 5, Nationals 0
At Washington, Bronson Arroyo (4-0) threw eight innings of one-hit ball, allowing only Ryan Zimmerman's fourth-inning single, as Cincinnati completed a three-game sweep. He struck out eight and walked two.
Kent Mercker and David Weathers combined for a hitless ninth for the Reds, off to a 15-7 start. Washington wound up with more errors (two) than hits.
Ramon Ortiz (0-3) gave up five runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in six-and-two-thirds innings. The Nationals dropped to 1-7 at home.
Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2
At San Diego, Orlando Hernandez (2-3) struck out nine in six innings and rookie Conor Jackson homered for the go-ahead run as Arizona finished a three-game sweep.
Mike Piazza hit his 400th career homer with two outs in the ninth, his third with San Diego.
Jose Valverde, Arizona's fourth pitcher, got three outs for his fifth save and completed a three-hitter.
Woody Williams (1-1) allowed two runs and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Phillies 9, Rockies 5
At Philadelphia, David Bell hit a three-run homer and Pat Burrell drove in two runs. Mike Lieberthal and Chase Utley each had three hits for Philadelphia, which improved to 5-9 at home.
Cory Sullivan had four hits, including a solo homer for Colorado, which lost for only the third time in nine road games.
Ryan Madson (2-1) allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings. Jason Jennings (1-1) gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings.
Astros 8, Dodgers 5
At Houston, Lance Berkman had a two-run homer and three RBIs to back Wandy Rodriguez (4-0), who tied his career high with six strikeouts and allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings in Houston's win over Los Angeles.
Chris Burke had a career-high three hits and two RBIs as the Astros capped a 7-2 homestand with their ninth win in 11 games.
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