Adam Eaton pitched seven strong innings and drove in a run as the San Diego Padres beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 to snap their four-game losing streak on Thursday.
"Eaton did just a great job of helping us stop this little skid that we've been in," manager Bruce Bochy said. "No getting around it, that's a good one to get, the way things have been going."
The Padres won despite getting just three hits, including Brian Giles' solo homer with two outs in the sixth.
PHOTO: AP
Eaton (9-1) won his career-best eighth straight decision and kept the Padres from being swept. They won for just the second time in eight games in June after going 22-6 in May, a club record for victories in a month.
"He's been throwing the ball well and he's a very good pitcher and he did a very good job," Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook said of Eaton.
Westbrook (2-9) allowed just three hits and three runs -- one earned -- in six innings, walked two and struck out two.
Giants 9, Royals 7
At San Francisco, Edgardo Alfonzo hit a go-ahead single in the sixth inning and pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz added a key two-run double.
Rookie Lance Niekro matched his career high with three RBIs and Michael Tucker doubled twice with an RBI in a rare leadoff appearance for San Francisco, which couldn't hold a 4-0 lead for starter Noah Lowry.
Scott Munter (1-0) earned his first major league victory -- and the slumping Giants won for just the second time in 13 games. Tyler Walker got four outs for his ninth save in 10 chances.
Nationals 4, Athletics 3
At Washington, Livan Hernandez pitched eight strong innings to win his eighth straight decision, and Nick Johnson hit a three-run double to lead Washington to its season-best seventh victory in a row.
Chad Cordero got three outs for his 17th save in 19 chances. It was the Nationals' 14th one-run victory, tied for the most in the NL.
Washington did all its scoring in the third inning, batting around against starter Joe Blanton (1-6), who went six innings and gave up seven hits.
Mariners 8, Marlins 0
At Miami, Aaron Sele threw seven strong innings and Randy Winn celebrated his 31st birthday with his first homer of the year.
Winn had two RBIs, as did Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez -- both of whom knocked in their runs in Seattle's six-run seventh inning that knocked out Marlins starter Josh Beckett (7-4), who lost at home for the first time in six decisions this season.
Sele (5-5) won for the third time in his last four starts.
Phillies 10, Rangers 8
At Philadelphia, Pat Burrell homered twice and drove in four runs to help Philadelphia complete a three-game sweep.
Todd Pratt homered and had four RBIs and Jim Thome also connected for the Phillies, who held on for their 12th win in 14 games.
Mark Teixeira hit a pair of homers and five RBIs.
Vicente Padilla (3-5) allowed four runs and four hits in five innings to win his second straight start. Billy Wagner earned his 17th save in 19 chances.
Pedro Astacio (2-7) gave up five runs and seven hits in four innings.
Reds 14, Devil Rays 5
At Cincinnati, Luke Hudson won his season debut with six solid innings on a steamy night, and Cincinnati completed a three-game sweep of major league baseball's worst road team.
Casey Fossum (2-4) walked a season-high six in only four innings, needing 102 pitches to get that far. By the time he left trailing 5-1, the tone was set.
Hudson (1-0) was activated before the game and gave up three hits, including two-run homers by Carl Crawford and Jorge Cantu.
Diamondbacks 4, Twins 3
At Phoenix, Jose Cruz Jr. homered to spark a three-run fourth inning and Javier Vazquez pitched six solid innings for Arizona, which won for just the second time in nine games.
Vazquez (6-4) allowed three runs and three hits and Brian Bruney struck out pinch-hitter Matt LeCroy for his sixth save in nine chances.
Justin Morneau and Jacque Jones homered for the Twins, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
Kyle Lohse (5-4) allowed four runs and seven hits with four walks and two strikeouts.
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