National LeagueMoises Alou homered, hit a two-run double and also singled in a run, Jason Schmidt struck out 10, and the San Francisco Giants ended their longest losing streak in 10 years with an 8-6 win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Shea Hillenbrand, acquired from Toronto on July 21, hit his first home run for the Giants, who stopped a nine-game losing streak.
Schmidt (8-7) won for only the second time in 10 starts, allowing one run and four hits in six innings. Mike Stanton, acquired last Friday from Washington, got the final out for his first save since Sept. 24, 2003.
PHOTO: AP
Tony Armas (7-7) lost for the fourth time in five starts, giving up six runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings.
Dodgers 5, Reds 3
At Cincinnati, Brad Penny pitched six sharp innings and drove in a run to help Los Angeles win its fifth straight game.
Penny (11-5) snapped his three-game losing streak and won for the first time since July 5. He allowed two runs and three hits, walked two and struck out six.
Takashi Saito retired all four batters he faced for his 10th save in 10 chances.
Ken Griffey Jr., Royce Clayton and Scott Hatteberg homered for Cincinnati, which has lost four straight. Elizardo Ramirez (4-7) allowed five runs and five hits in 4 2-3 innings for the Reds. He struck out five and had a career-high four walks.
Braves 3, Pirates 2
At Pittsburgh, Edgar Renteria hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and Horacio Ramirez pitched 6 2-3 innings for Atlanta.
Mets 6, Marlins 5
At Miami, New York took advantage of four errors by Florida, and closer Billy Wagner escaped a ninth-inning jam by striking out the side to close out the win.
Florida's four errors, which matched the Marlins' season high, led to three unearned runs and a 6-0 deficit by the third inning.
Wagner, who blew a save on Tuesday when he gave up Josh Willingham's game-ending homer, needed 22 pitches in the ninth for his 23rd save in 28 chances.
American League
Taiwanese starter Wang Chien-ming (
Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada homered for the American League East-leading Yankees, who won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to 10-1-1 in their last 12 series.
Bobby Abreu singled and doubled for his first two hits with New York, and fellow newcomer Craig Wilson added a pair of singles in his Yankees debut.
Wang (13-4) buzzed through the best-hitting team in the major leagues and ran his scoreless streak to 18 innings.
Troy Glaus hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning for Toronto, which entered leading the majors in batting average (.293) and slugging percentage (.480). Ted Lilly (9-10) got the loss.
Rangers 10, Twins 2
Kip Wells made a successful first start for Texas, Mark Teixeira homered twice and the Rangers beat Minnesota 10-2 on Wednesday to give the Twins their first losing homestand this season.
Mariners 2, Orioles 1
At Baltimore, Adrian Beltre hit a two-run homer, and Seattle ended Erik Bedard's seven-game winning streak since June.
Athletics 3, Angels 2
At Anaheim, California, Mark Kotsay drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single, and Oakland increased its lead over Los Angeles to 1.5 games in the American League West.
Red Sox 6, Indians 5
At Boston, Mark Loretta doubled with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and Boston took advantage of a meltdown by reliever Fausto Carmona to beat Cleveland.
Tigers 8, Devil Rays 3
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Magglio Ordonez hit a go-ahead two-run double and Craig Monroe added a two-run homer in a four-run eighth inning for Detroit.
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