Pedro Martinez pitched a two-hitter and the New York Mets finally got their first win of the season, overcoming John Smoltz's 15 strikeouts in a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Carlos Beltran hit a go-ahead homer off Smoltz in the eighth, and Cliff Floyd and David Wright connected later in the inning to send Willie Randolph to his first victory as a manager.
Martinez (1-0) retired his final 16 batters, struck out nine and walked only one. After the bullpen cost him a win on opening day in Cincinnati, the Mets' new ace finished this one himself for his 43rd career complete game and fourth two-hitter.
Smoltz (0-2) tied his Atlanta record for strikeouts and led 1-0 through seven innings. But Jose Reyes led off the eighth with a single and moved up on Miguel Cairo's sacrifice before Beltran drove a 2-1 pitch over the right-field fence, chasing Smoltz.
The Mets started 0-5 for the first time since 1963 -- their second year of existence. Boosted by the victory, they now head to New York for their home opener Monday against Houston.
Marlins 8, Nationals 0
At Miami, Josh Beckett pitched a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts for his second career shutout, and Juan Encarnacion hit his second grand slam of the week to help Florida beat Washington.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier