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Cobras get past Bulls with `Ugly' home run

Cobras slugger Hsieh Jia-shien got his league-leading sixth homer of the season in Saturday's game at Douliou. The Cobras defeated the Bulls 3-1. PHOTO COURTESY OF MACOTO COBRAS

Hsieh "The Ugly" Jia-shien's towering solo home run to deep center off Sinon Bulls starter Clint Weibl broke a scoreless tie in top of the fifth inning as the Macoto Cobras went on to beat the defending champs in a 3-1 decision at Sinjhuang Saturday night.

The home run champ from last season smashed a knee-high offering from the American righty and deposited it into the centerfield seats for his league-leading sixth homer, one more than the Bulls' Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan.

Amaury Garcia of the Dominican Republics followed Hsieh's lead with a clean double and scored on catcher Wu Jau-hui's RBI single one out later to give the serpents a 2-0 advantage.

Tseng Hua-wei got the Bulls on the board in the sixth with a run-scoring single off Bulls starter Lin "Little Chick" En-yu to half the Cobras lead at 2-1, but that was all the offense that they managed to produce against a stingy Bulls staff as they fell to the previously slumping Cobras in only their second loss in six games.

The showdown between the league's two premier starters lived up to its high expectation with the Cobras' Lin getting the last laugh on six innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts before Lee Ming-jin and Puerto Rican newcomer Felix Villegas combined for three shutout innings of relief to preserve the win.

Dropping his first decision in six starts, Weibl fell victim to a lack of run support in another quality start as he missed the chance to be the league's first five-win man.

Whales 5, Elephants 1, Game 1
Elephants 10, Whales 7, Game 2

The Chinatrust Whales played to split a double header against the Brother Elephants at Douliou by winning the day game 5-1 before falling to the Elephants 10-7 in the night cap.

Game 1 had the Elephants jumping to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on outfielder Chen Huai-shan's liner to right that scored first baseman Tsai Fong-an, who reached on a fielding error by the Whales to start off the inning.

Three straight hits following a leadoff walk would score a pair of runs for the Whales in what ended up being a five-run third as Whales went ahead for good in the game.

Whales starter Tseng Jau-hao improved to 3-0 for the first time in his career with eighth innings of seven-hit ball, allowing the lone run (unearned) for the Elephants in the early going.

As for the Elephants, American lefty Brian Rodaway had five of the seven hits he allowed for the game all bunched up in the fatal fifth, wiping out what was otherwise five innings solid work.

His spot on the Elephants rotation may be in danger as a result of his tendency to give up big innings, allowing three runs or more runs in a single inning in two of his past four starts.

The night game was tied at 3-3 after three innings of play before the Elephants stomped out five more runs in a two-run fourth and three-run fifth, highlighted by Chen Huai-shan's bases-clearing double off Whales reliever Edwin Minaya to claim a comfortable 8-3 lead.

Chinatrust pulled off three meaningless runs in the final two frames after the Elephants had added to their lead by two to make it 10-4 in the seventh.

Brother set-up man Hsiao Ren-wen was the big beneficiary of an opportunistic Elephants attack that rang up a dozen hits and a poor Whales defense that committed four errors in the game for his first win of the year. He surrendered a run on four hits in three innings of relief for the Elephants.

Taking the loss for the marine creatures was lefty reliever Shen Yu-jeh, who allowed two runs on five hits and four walks in less than two innings of work for his first loss of the year.

Johnny Damon prepped for his return to Fenway Park with his first multihomer game for the New York Yankees.

The Yankees tied a team record by scoring in all eight innings in which they batted, and Damon scored a career-high five runs to go along with three hits and three RBIs in a 17-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

Jason Giambi hit a three-run homer for New York, which overcame a 2-0 first-inning deficit and a poor start by Randy Johnson.

Damon, Giambi and Jorge Posada all hit upper-deck homers for the Yankees, and Giambi drove in four runs, giving him 25 RBIs this season.

Mariners 8, Orioles 6

At Baltimore, Ichiro Suzuki got two hits in Seattle's six-run sixth inning and Felix Hernandez earned his first win of the season.

Adrian Beltre and Carl Everett homered for the Mariners, and Yuniesky Betancourt came through with a go-ahead single in the sixth. Eddie Guardado worked the ninth for his third save in five chances.

Corey Patterson hit a three-run homer for the Orioles, who finished with 15 hits.

White Sox 2, Angels 1

At Anaheim, California, Chicago starter Jose Contreras recorded his 12th straight regular-season victory and Jim Thome set a club record with his 10th home run in April.

Contreras (4-0) threw 103 pitches in 8 1-3 innings, allowing five hits and one run with one walk. The right-hander is 15-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 20 starts since last year's All-Star break.

Bobby Jenks got Edgardo Alfonzo to line out with two on in the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

Jermaine Dye drove in Chicago's first run with an RBI single in the fourth against Kelvim Escobar (3-2), who pitched only five innings because of a blood blister.

Albert Pujols set a major league record with his 14th homer in April, a tiebreaking shot in the eighth inning that sent the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

After National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter and All-Star Livan Hernandez locked up in a pitchers' duel, Pujols broke a 1-1 tie when he connected off Jon Rauch (0-1) leading off the eighth.

Jason Isringhausen walked the bases loaded in the ninth before retiring Nick Johnson on a comebacker for his seventh save in nine opportunities. Johnson finished 0-for-5, dropping his batting average to .352.

Mets 1, Braves 0

At Atlanta, Tom Glavine outpitched John Thomson, and Paul Lo Duca hit his first home run with New York.

The first-place Mets have won the first two games of the series at Turner Field, where they've struggled mightily for years. They stretched their early season lead over the Braves to seven games in the NL East.

Glavine (3-2) improved to 3-9 in 14 starts against Atlanta, his major league home from 1987-2002. The 40-year-old lefty gave up only four hits with two walks and one strikeout in seven innings.

Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine chances. Thomson (0-1) gave up three hits and one run in 6 2-3 innings.
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