CPBL
Back-to-back home victories over the Brother Elephants in Kaohsiung on Thursday and Friday helped the La New Bears reclaim a one-game lead over the idle President Lions as the race for the first-half title continued in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Shih Chih-wei's clutch single with a man on third scored the go-ahead run for the Bears to cap a four-run rally in a 6-5 win. It was the Bears' only lead in the game after they had trailed through the first six innings, but a lead that stood until the end of the game.
PHOTO: AP
Rookie slugger Chen Guan-ren's three-run homer off Bears starter Ramon Morel gave the Elephants a 3-0 lead in the top of the first as a hostile home crowd eager to cheer on the much anticipated season debut for Morel (former Sinon Bulls' ace closer that helped them won two league titles in 2003 and 2004) was silenced in a hurry.
The Bears answered with a run in the second and the third innings to cut the Elephants lead to 3-2 on Chen Chin-fong's solo blast to deep left field off Elephants starter Joey Dawley of the US and Tsai Chih-wei's sacrifice fly, respectively.
After the Elephants struck for a pair of runs in the fourth to regain a 5-2 lead and chase Morel, the hosts then scored a run in the fourth and the fifth innings to keep things close before Chen's RBI double down the third base line forced a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning to set the stage for Shih's late-game heroics.
Bears lefty Wu Si-yo came out of the bullpen with 1-2/3 innings of stellar relief to record his eighth win of the year, while closer Lee Fong-hua picked up the save for tossing a perfect ninth to preserve the win.
Taking the tough loss was Elephants reliever Yeh Yong-jeh, who surrendered the game-winner to Shih to even his record at 1-1.
Bears 6, Elephants 1
Thursday night's contest between the two clubs in Kaohsiung had the Elephants jumping to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on Chen "Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan's run-scoring single off American righty Kenny Rayborn before the Bears rallied with six unanswered runs to produce a 6-1 win.
The lone third-inning run was be all the scoring that the Elephants could muster as the Bears staff ace promptly regrouped and pitched the next four innings without allowing another run before Tsai Ying-fong, Wu and Lee combined for two innings of hitless relief to secure the win.
Offensively for the Bears, a three-run fifth, highlighted by shortstop Lin Chih-sheng's two-run single up the middle, gave the hosts a 3-1 lead before three more runs in the eighth helped secure the Bears victory.
Rayborn pocketed his eighth win of the year with seven innings of one-run ball on six hits and five walks. He was not particularly overpowering, but effective nonetheless in becoming the league's first eight-win man.
Elephants starter Liu Jung-nan tossed four scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the fifth for his league-worst eighth loss of the year. He finished with three runs (one earned) on four hits over 5-2/3 innings of work.
Major Leagues
Nate Robertson pitched seven effective innings and Curtis Granderson doubled, tripled and scored twice to lead the Detroit Tigers over the Chicago Cubs 5-3 in interleague play on Friday.
Robertson (7-3) allowed two runs and five hits as the American League Central-leading Tigers won for the seventh time in nine games. The Cubs lost their fourth in a row.
Todd Jones worked a perfect ninth for his 18th save.
Granderson reached base four times, and Marcus Thames hit his 13th home run to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
Cubs backup catcher Henry Blanco and Aramis Ramirez also homered.
Chicsago's Glendon Rusch (2-7) gave up out four runs and six hits in 1 2-3 innings -- his shortest start of the season.
White Sox 12, Reds 4
At Cincinnati, Joe Crede's first-inning grand slam got Chicago's high-powered offense rolling, and the White Sox extended their interleague domination of Cincinnati.
Crede also had a double and a single, and Scott Podsednik drove in three runs with a pair of singles as the White Sox rocked left-hander Brandon Claussen (3-8) and kept on going against Cincinnati's rickety bullpen.
The defending World Series champs have won six of their last eight. They remain 1 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central.
The White Sox are 10-2 against the Reds in interleague play.
White Sox starter Freddy Garcia (8-5), who had been in a deep slump for nearly a month, gave up four runs and seven hits in eight innings, improving to 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA in interleague play.
Orioles 6, Mets 3
At New York, Erik Bedard won his first game in a month and Melvin Mora hit a two-run home run against his former team as Baltimore ended New York's winning streak at eight games.
Mora's two-run shot capped a four-run seventh inning for the Orioles, who had lost three straight.
Alay Soler held Baltimore to four hits over six innings and the Mets were leading 3-2 when Aaron Heilman (0-2) relieved at the start of the seventh.
He got in trouble immediately, walking Kevin Millar and Nick Markakis to start the inning. Brian Roberts' grounder drove in the tying run and Brandon Fahey looped a single to left to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead.
Mora followed with his ninth homer of the season.
Bedard (6-6) last won on May 17 against Boston and had lost his last four decisions. He allowed just three hits over six innings, walking three and striking out six.
Chris Ray pitched a perfect ninth for his 17th save.
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