Mark Ellis scored on a ground ball back to the pitcher with one out in the ninth inning Sunday to give the Oakland Athletics a 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles for a three-game sweep.
After Terrence Long flew out, Ellis hit a fly off Hector Carrasco (0-2) that appeared to bounce in and out of Melvin Mora's glove as he hit the left-field fence for a triple. Billy McMillon then was walked intentionally to set up a potential double play.
With runners on first and third and a drawn-in infield, late-game defensive replacement Ramon Hernandez hit a grounder to Carrasco, who turned and threw to second without looking at Ellis, coming down the third-base line, ending a well pitched game by both starters.
Baltimore's Jason Johnson pitched five-hit ball over 7 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven. Keith Foukle (7-1) retired all three batters he faced.
Tigers 3, Red Sox 0
In Detroit, Wilfredo Ledezma pitched seven impressive innings and Dmitri Young homered as Detroit snapped Boston's five-game winning streak.
Acquired from the Red Sox in the winter meeting draft last December, Ledezma (3-2) scattered six hits, struck out two and walked none in his second career start. He has pitched 12 scoreless innings since joining Detroit's starting rotation on July 8.
After the first inning, in which the Red Sox got two hits, the only Boston batter to get as far as second base was Trot Nixon, who singled and stole second in the fifth.
Tim Wakefield (6-4) allowed just one hit in the first five innings. But that hit, a home run by Young in the fourth, put the Tigers ahead to stay.
White Sox 7, Indians 4
In Cleveland, Tony Graffanino hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning as Chicago finished a disappointing first half with a win over Cleveland.
Graffanino's shot off Alex Herrera snapped a 4-4 tie,helped give the White Sox just their second win in seven games and handed Rafael Betancourt (0-1) a loss in his major league debut. Chicago is 45-49 entering the All-Star break.
Kerry Robinson tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 Sunday.
Both benches cleared in the first when Albert Pujols was hit in the shoulder blade by Adam Eaton, a day after Pujols lingered at the plate following his game-winning homer.
Eaton was immediately ejected, and Pujols, Padres catcher Gary Bennett and San Diego manager Bruce Bochy also were kicked out. During a brief confrontation Pujols punched Bennett in the face.
The Cardinals completed a three-game sweep, their fifth sweep in six series against San Diego. St. Louis is 29-4 against the Padres since the start of the 1999 season. St. Louis, the defending NL Central champions, entered the All-Star break at 49-45.
Jason Simontacchi (8-4) won in relief for the second day in a row, and Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for his fifth save in six chances.
Mike Matthews (3-4) got the loss.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set