Some thought the day would never come, with the way that the President Lions mowed through their opponents by an average scoring margin of 6.1 to 1.7 runs per game during their record-shattering 17-game winning streak over that past 35 days. But it did. And it was the Macoto Cobras who had the honor of beating the cats in their own game with a stellar effort from ace righty Lin "Little Chick" En-yu in a 5-3 final at Sinjhuang Saturday.
The Chinese Professional Baseball League's Most Valuable Player last season and current strikeout leader (103 strikeouts in 102 innings) showed why he is at the top of his game with seven brilliant innings of one-run ball on three scattered singles to lead the serpents past the Lions.
After plating a first-inning run off Lions lefty Bill Pulsipher of the US for a quick 1-0 lead on the strength of Australian slugger Thomas Brice's RBI single, the Cobras erupted for three more runs against the former major leaguer on a solo homer by Hsieh "The Ugly" Jia-shien and team captain Chiou Chang-rong's two-run blast in what turned out to be the game-deciding third.
PHOTO: AP
The serpents added another run in the seventh that chased Pulsipher to claim a 5-1 advantage.
The Lions did not lose the game without giving it their all as they rallied for two runs off Cobras reliever Lee Ming-jin in the top of the ninth inning with back-to-back doubles by Chen Jia-wei and Kuo Dai-chi and a run-scoring triple from Kao Chih-kang to cut the once-comfortable, 5-1 Cobras lead to 5-3 with a runner on third and the tying at the plate. Kuo was then tagged out at third for the second out of the ninth after an infield single by Chen Lien-hong.
But rookie pitcher Chang Hsien-chih was able to retire the final Lions batter on a routine fly ball to secure the win.
Two of the five runs allowed by Pulsipher were unearned as he took the tough loss against Lin, who improved to 8-4 for the year.
The loss by the Lions set them back in a big way against the La New Bears in the hunt for the first-half title as they are now forced to beat the Chinatrust Whales tomorrow in their final game of the first half and hope for a tie or a loss by the Bears to the Cobras on Wednesday to win the first-half title.
Major Leagues
David Ortiz hit his seventh career walkoff homer after Jonathan Papelbon pitched 2 1-3 innings of clutch relief and the Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 in 10 innings Saturday.
With one out and Alex Cora on first with a single, Ortiz hit a 2-2 pitch from Tom Gordon (2-3) into the center-field bleachers and his teammates poured out of the dugout. Papelbon waved a towel over his head at home plate as the excited players awaited Ortiz's arrival.
Boston won its season-high eighth straight game as Ortiz produced a win this month for the second time on the last at-bat of the game. He also did it in the opener of a doubleheader against Texas on June 11.
Brett Myers started and went five innings for Philadelphia, one day after being arrested and charged with hitting his wife in the face on a street near Fenway Park just after midnight. He was freed after his wife posted US$200 bail and faces a court date of Aug. 4.
Papelbon (2-1) got the Red Sox out of two big jams and matched his longest outing of the year.
White Sox 6, Astros 5, 10 innings
In Chicago, Joe Crede tied the game with a seventh-inning grand slam and Alex Cintron singled home the winning run with the bases loaded in the 10th as the surging White Sox won their ninth straight victory.
Rob Mackowiak led off the bottom of the 10th with a double off Dan Wheeler (1-5), pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski was walked intentionally, Juan Uribe sacrificed and Scott Podsednik got another intentional walk to load the bases.
Cintron then lined a 1-0 pitch to right to give the White Sox their 10th win in 11 interleague games this season and second straight over the Astros, the team they swept in the World Series last year.
Matt Thornton (3-1) pitched 2 1-3 innings of relief for the win.
Indians 4, Reds 0
In Cleveland, Paul Byrd pitched eight shutout innings while Todd Hollandsworth and Grady Sizemore both homered to lead the Indians.
Byrd (6-5) improved to 2-3 in nine starts since May 3 with his longest performance since signing with Cleveland as a free agent in December. The right-hander gave up five hits and struck out four without issuing a walk.
Bob Wickman worked a perfect ninth to complete the five-hitter as Cleveland won for only the second time in eight games -- all in interleague play. The Reds fell to 4-11 since June 9, but lost for only the third time in their last 13 road games.
Hollandsworth put Cleveland ahead with a two-out, two-run homer in the second inning off Bronson Arroyo (9-4). Victor Martinez drew a one-out walk and Hollandsworth broke an 0-for-10 slump by lining a 3-2 pitch just over the wall in right for his second homer.
Giants 8, Athletics 7
At San Francisco, Ray Durham hit a game-winning three-run homer onto the arcade atop the right-field wall, and the San Francisco overcame a five-run deficit to beat Oakland.
Barry Bonds hit his 719th homer and an RBI double while reaching base five times, but Durham's unlikely homer capped the Giants' rally against A's closer Huston Street (1-3), who blew his fifth save.
For the second straight day, the Bay Bridge Series was decided by a ninth-inning rally. Oakland scored two runs Friday night in a 4-3 victory, but the Giants replied with their 16th come-from-behind win this season.
Mark Sweeney led off the ninth with a single, and Bonds drew his third walk of the day. Durham was 0-for-4, but his high fly reached the elevated stands in right -- and the sellout crowd celebrated the veteran second baseman's first career walk-off homer.
Twins 3, Cubs 0
At Minneapolis, Boof Bonser threw 6 1-3 scoreless innings to overshadow Mark Prior's second start of the season in the Minnesota victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Bonser (2-1) bounced back from two lackluster starts to outshine Prior, scattering six hits and striking out one with no walks. He left to a standing ovation in the seventh, and rookie Jason Kubel had two hits and an RBI for the surging Twins, who won for the 13th time in 15 games.
Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 13 attempts.
Prior (0-2) looked sharp early in his second game this season after missing the first 2{ months with shoulder problems, but he faded in his final 1 2-3 innings and got little help from his offense.
Orioles 3, Nationals 2
At Baltimore, Ramon Hernandez singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth, giving the Orioles a victory over the Nationals after two rain delays totaling nearly three hours.
The end came almost six hours after the first pitch, and only five minutes after play resumed following a stoppage of 2 hours, 18 minutes.
Play was halted a second time with the Orioles ready to bat in the ninth.
When the tarp was finally removed, Chad Cordero (2-3) walked Luis Matos. After a sacrifice and an intentional walk to Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada hit a fly ball to left. Hernandez then hit a liner between short and third, and Matos scored without a throw.
By game's end, only a few hundred people were left from the crowd of 36,920.
Much earlier, Hernandez homered for the Orioles, who failed to score after loading the bases in the seventh and eighth innings. Javy Lopez got three hits for Baltimore, including the 1,500th of his career.
Devil Rays 3, Braves 2
At St. Petersburg, Tim Corcoran threw solid five innings in his first start of the season and Rocco Baldelli had a run-scoring triple to help Tampa Bay beat Atlanta.
Corcoran (1-0) gave up one run and four hits for his first major league-win, coming in his second career start. He was inserted into the rotation after the Devil Rays optioned Seth McClung to Triple-A Durham Tuesday, a move designed to convert the right-hander from a starter to a closer.
Baldelli's RBI triple made it 3-1 in the sixth, helping the Devil Rays improve to 9-2 in interleague play this season.
Chad Harville pitched the final 1 2-3 innings for his second career save.
Tigers 7, Cardinals 6, 10 innings
At Detroit, Placido Polanco's two-out double in the 10th scored Curtis Granderson from first base and lifted Detroit over St. Louis.
In the ninth, Marcus Thames tied the game at 6-all with a two-run homer off Jason Isringhausen, who entered the game with a two-run lead. Granderson led off with an infield single, and after Isringhausen struck out Polanco, Thames followed with a shot into the left-field seats that brought a roaring, sellout crowd of 42,535 to its feet.
Tyler Johnson (0-1) relieved Isringhausen with two out in the 10th, then allowed Granderson to reach on a walk. Polanco followed with a double to the right-center wall, allowing Granderson to score easily and setting off a celebration on the field -- and in the stands.
Joel Zumaya (4-1) pitched the 10th to earn the win.
Blue Jays 7, Mets 4
At Toronto, Vernon Wells homered twice and the Toronto ended the New York Met's franchise-record nine-game road winning streak.
Wells hit a three-run homer in the second off Orlando Hernandez (4-7) and a solo shot off Heath Bell in the seventh for his fifth multihomer game of the season. The center fielder went 2-for-4, raising his average to .321. He has 20 home runs and 62 RBI in 71 games -- the fifth consecutive season he's hit 20 or more.
Toronto ace Roy Halladay (9-2) has won eight of his last nine decisions. The 2003 AL Cy Young award winner allowed four runs and 10 hits, while striking out four and walking none in 7 1-3 innings.
Royals 6, Brewers 5
At Kansas City, Missouri, David DeJesus doubled in a five-run fourth inning that was keyed by back-to-back Milwaukee fielding errors as Kansas City rallied for the win.
Tony Graffanino homered leading off the fourth, and Doug Davis (4-5) walked Doug Mientkiewicz and John Buck. Angel Berroa then hit a grounder to short, but Bill Hall never got control of the ball and the bases were loaded.
Esteban German followed with a grounder to third baseman Corey Koskie, who fumbled the ball as Mientkiewicz scored. DeJesus then hit a two-run double that tied the score at 5.German scored the go-ahead run from third on Mark Grudzielanek's infield out to cap the scoring.
Rockies 11, Rangers 6
At Denver, Choo Freeman hit his second career home run during a six-run first inning and Todd Helton also homered and had two singles to keep up his strong hitting in June for Colorado.
Helton hit his seventh homer of the season, a solo shot in the second, and scored three times. Helton, whose average had dipped to .267 on June 11, has now hit safely in 13 of the last 14 games. He's batting .310, the highest it's been since May 13.
Matt Holliday had three hits, including a double, to give him an NL-leading 99 hits this season. Holliday also had two RBIs. He has 41 extra base hits this season.
Mariners 9, Padres 5
At San Diego, Kenji Johjima and Raul Ibanez each hit a pair of solo home runs and Jamie Moyer threw seven solid innings and had an RBI single as Seattle beat San Diego.
Both of Johjima's homers, his seventh and eighth, came off Chan Ho Park (5-4) on first pitches and highlighted two-run innings in the fourth and fifth. Johjima added a two-run double in the ninth for a career high four RBIs.
Ibanez homered off Park in the fifth, and added his 16th of the season off reliever Brian Sikorski in the seventh.
The teams combined for eight home runs -- four by each team -- to set a Petco Park record.
The Padres opened the bottom of the ninth with four straight singles off J.J. Putz, the last by Josh Barfield to make it 9-5. However, Putz then struck out Josh Bard, Mike Cameron and Ben Johnson with the bases loaded to end the game.
Angels 6, Diamondbacks 4,
13 innings
At Phoenix, pinch-hitter Robb Quinlan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the 13th inning as Los Angeles rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Phoenix.
Adam Kennedy hit a two-out single off Brandon Medders (1-2), the Diamondbacks' sixth pitcher. Quinlan then hit a 1-2 pitch just over the left-field fence for his first career pinch homer.
Brendan Donnelly (1-0) threw a perfect 12th for the victory. Francisco Rodriguez, the Angels' sixth pitcher, got the last three outs for his 18th save in 20 chances.
Arizona has lost five straight and 17 of their last 19.
The Angles tied the score with four runs in the seventh. Chone Figgins had a two-run single with the bases loaded and Orlando Cabrera followed with a two-run double into the left-field corner.
Orlando Hudson hit a two-run homer in the first, Johnny Estrada had an RBI double in the fourth and Craig Counsell led off the fifth with his second home run.
Dodgers 7, Pirates 0
At Los Angeles, Aaron Sele pitched six strong innings, Andre Ethier had a career-high four RBIs and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0.
Sele (4-2) won for the first time in five starts since May 24, scattering five hits and striking out four. The right-hander, who did not make it past the fourth in either of his previous two outings, worked with runners on base in every inning except the third. He got three outs on flyballs to the warning track -- by Sean Casey, Jose Bautista and Freddy Sanchez.
Jonathan Broxton relieved Sele and struck out the side on 14 pitches in the seventh. Former Pirates lefty Joe Beimel worked a scoreless eighth and Takashi Saito finished the seven-hitter with a perfect ninth.
Jeff Kent homered for the second straight game, helping send Pittsburgh to its 10th straight loss -- the Pirates' longest since a 10-game slide in 1968.
Zach Duke (5-7) lost for the first time in exactly a month after going 3-0 in his previous five starts.
Pittsburgh is 17 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central and 24 games under .500 in its first season under former Dodgers manager Jim Tracy. The Pirates have the second-worst record in the majors at 26-50 and have been shut out seven times.
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