American League
Miguel Tejada hit a two-run double off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning Sunday to give the Oakland Athletics a 2-1 win over New York and ruin Andy Pettitte's one-hit performance.
It was the American League Most Valuable Player's second game-ending hit in three days.
"Miggy was chirping so much in the dugout -- `I'm gonna get him, I'm gonna get him,' -- you just knew something was going to happen," Oakland pitcher Mark Mulder said.
Mulder (15-7) pitched a five-hitter but seemed headed for defeat until the dominant Pettitte was removed after walking Mark Ellis to start the ninth.
Eric Chavez moved Ellis to third with a one-out single off Rivera (5-1), then Tejada launched a drive off the elevated wall in deep left field, driving home Ellis and Chavez.
On Friday night, Tejada hit a solo homer in the 10th to end the Athletics' 3-2 win.
The Yankees' bullpen wasted another phenomenal start. Pettitte allowed only Jose Guillen's first-inning infield single and seemed headed to his ninth straight victory. Mulder retired his first 14 batters.
National League
Robin Ventura chugged around the bases for the first inside-the-park homer of his career and the Los Angeles Dodgers handed Russ Ortiz his first loss since June 13, beating the Atlanta Braves 8-4 Sunday.
"Usually," quipped Ventura, "someone has to go on the DL for me to get even a triple."
Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer as Los Angeles snapped a five-game losing streak.
The Dodgers scored four unearned runs in the first off Ortiz (15-5), and their bullpen held the high-scoring Braves to only one run over the final six innings.
Guillermo Mota (3-2) got the win.
Ventura, acquired from the New York Yankees on Thursday, picked up his first homer for the Dodgers in the seventh -- just not in the way anyone would have expected.
On a drive to the left-center gap, Darren Bragg jumped against the wall attempting a backhanded catch. The ball popped loose as he turned his glove and crashed into the padding. Sitting on the ground, Bragg snagged the ball with his bare hand before it struck the ground, holding it for the umpires to see. But umpire Jeff Kellogg, running out from his position at second base, ruled that the ball had struck the wall.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but