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Bears beat rain delays to edge past the Lions

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Tsai Jien-wei's sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth gave the La New Bears their first lead of the game at 4-3 before Pan Chung-wei doubled home two more insurance runs in the eighth to help them pull away with a 6-3 win over the Lions in Tainan on Saturday night.

In a game that experienced three rain delays, the visiting Bears quickly found themselves trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the opening inning when Lions outfielder Kuo Dai-chi smashed a clean double off American righty Kenny Rayborn for two runs in a fast start for the hosts.

The Lion's lead would last until the top of the fourth when the Bears answered with two runs of their own, courtesy of designated hitter Chen Chin-fong's solo homer off Lion's starter Tsao Jung-yang and catcher Cheng Fon-min's dribbler down the third-base line for an infield single that scored the Bears' second run of the game.

Luis Ugueto's solo blast off Rayborn in the bottom of the same inning promptly gave the home cats their second lead of the contest at 3-2 before the Bears fought back with Tseng Hao-jui's game-tying double in the sixth, followed by Tsai's go-ahead sacrifice fly that put the Bears up for good.

Despite allowing a solo home run and four walks over five innings in a sub-par performance, Rayborn managed to pick up his league-leading eleventh victory of the season surrendering three runs on five hits and seven strikeouts.

The Bears' staff ace had his fellow hitters to thank for as they provided him with ample run support to bail him out of a potential loss

Leading the way for the Bears offensively was Pan, whose 3-for-5 batting with a pair of RBIs earned him the game-MVP honor.

Taking the loss was Lions reliever Lin Yueh-pin, who allowed the first two hitters to reach on back-to-back doubles to start the sixth, wasting a hard-earned lead that his team had built up against the first-half champs.

Elephants 5 Whales 11

Yeh Chang-long's 3-for-5 night with a career-high of four RBIs lead a deadly Chinatrust Whales attack that smothered the Brother Elephants pitching for eleven runs on 18 hits en route to a 11-5 win at Tienmu on Saturday evening to salvage a 2-2 split in their four-game series against the Elephants last week.

Elephants starter Wu Jung-yi was pulled just one out into the third after he had allowed six runs on eight hits, including a towering two-run blast over the right-field wall to Whales designated hitter Tseng Han-chou in the top of the third over a losing effort.

The 6-0 Whales lead was widened to 10-0 in the fifth, thanks to a four-run scoring squirt in which the Whales batted around the order on five singles and a hit batsman, against Brother reliever Chuang Wei-chuan.

Down 10-0, the Elephants would score a run in the sixth and seventh to cut the Whales lead by two before plating three more runs in the eighth to make things interesting.

But that was as close as they got as the Whales plated their final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth in an eventual 11-5 rout.

Whales lefty Alexander Herrera of Venezuela improved to 2-0 for the year in only his third start since joining the team late last month with seven innings of two-run ball on six hits.

American League

David Ortiz hit his 31st homer, Josh Beckett got his 11th win despite giving up three homers and the Boston Red Sox used timely two-out hitting to beat the Chicago White Sox 9-6 on Saturday.

Ortiz, who on Friday became the first Red Sox player to reach 30 homers before the All-Star break, continued his tear with a two-run shot off Freddy Garcia that broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth. It was his eighth homer in eight games over a span of just 27 at-bats.

In other AL action it was:
* Yankees 5, Devil Rays 1
* Orioles 7, Indians 4
* Blue Jays 7, Royals 5
* Twins 4, Rangers 0
* Angels 6, Athletics 4
* Tigers 2, Mariners 1

In NL action it was:
* Giants 11 Dodgers 7
* Cardinals 7, Astros 6, 10 innings
* Marlins 3, Mets 2, 1st game
* Mets 17, Marlins 3, 2nd game
* Cubs 3, Brewers 1
* Braves 4, Reds 1
* Phillies 6, Pirates 2
* Padres 5, Nationals 2
* Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 7
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