Wu Si-yo held the President Lions to five scattered singles in as many innings and Chen Chin-fong knocked in a pair of runs to lead the La New Bears to a 5-0 shutout win over the Lions in Tainan on Sunday night.
With the Bears leading 5-0, the game was called off by the home plate umpire in the top of the sixth, when the steady drizzle that had started in the third inning suddenly turned into a downpour that halted all plays, handing the visiting Bears the win after five completed innings.
The win by Wu marked his eleventh of the season, tying him with fellow American righty Kenny Rayborn for league's lead in total victories, while dropping his league-best earned run average (ERA) to a miniscule 1.61. His record remained a perfect 11-0 for the year, making him a legitimate contender for the coveted 20-win plateau achieved only by a select few in the league's 17-year history.
"I don't think much about it [the record], as long as I can go out there and help the club win some games," Wu was quoted by the local press as saying in a recent interview.
The game began with the Bears striking first in the top of the second, when Chen led off the inning with a single to center off Lions starter Cheng Bo-ren and scored on Jiang Chih-tsong's groundout to short after Chen had taken third base on a Lions error and a past ball by Lions catcher Kao Chih-kang.
The Bears then made it 3-0 with a two-run third on Shih Chih-wei's run-scoring single over the middle, before Chen scored the third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to deep-center.
The scoreboard read 5-0 in favor of the Bears after the fifth, as the visitors plated two more runs in the inning on consecutive RBI singles by Chen and slugger Pan Chung-wei, before the rain ended the game.
Doing the damage offensively was Chen, whose two RBIs in the game upped his league-leading total to 47 for the year, seven more than Macoto Cobras great Hsieh "The Ugly" Jia-shien's 40 three weeks into the second half of the season.
Also chipping in with two hits in the rain-shortened game were leadoff man Shih and catcher Chen Fong-min, who saw their team rebound from a tough loss to the Lions last Wednesday with back-to-back wins to take the four-game series by a 3-1 margin.
American League
Tadahito Iguchi hit a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 19th inning for the Chicago White Sox to beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 in the longest game by innings in US Cellular Field history on Sunday.
Devil Rays 6, Yankees 5
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Jorge Cantu and Aubrey Huff homered and drove in three runs apiece to help Tampa Bay rally from a five-run deficit against New York.
Orioles 5, Indians 4
At Cleveland, Corey Patterson scored on a passed ball in the eighth inning and Baltimore rallied to beat Cleveland in a mistake-filled game.
Rangers 5, Twins 2
At Arlington, Texas, Mark Teixeira and Gary Matthews Jr. hit two-run homers off All-Star left-hander Johan Santana and Texas defeated Minnesota.
Blue Jays 11, Royals 3
At Kansas City, Missouri, Roy Halladay became the major leagues' first 12-game winner, Aaron Hill had four hits for the second consecutive game and Toronto beat Kansas City.
Mariners 3, Tigers 2
At Seattle, Gil Meche held Detroit to four hits in seven innings and Yuniesky Betancourt's elusive single drove in the go-ahead run and snapped Seattle's six game losing streak.
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