American LeagueBrian Tallet and two relievers combined on a two-hitter in place of injured starter Ted Lilly, and Lyle Overbay homered and drove in five runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 on Monday.
Tallet didn't allow a hit in the first 2 1-3 innings and was followed by Jeremy Accardo (1-0), who gave up both hits but didn't allow a run in 2 2-3 innings. Brandon League earned his first major league save by pitching the final four innings.
Tigers 9, Twins 3
At Detroit, Zach Miner won a matchup of impressive rookies and Detroit roughed up Francisco Liriano again in a win over Minnesota.
Liriano (12-3) has a 7.63 ERA against Detroit this season, more than five times higher than his ERA (1.39) against the rest of the major league teams. Liriano gave up four runs and a season-high 10 hits with four walks. He struck out five.
Angels 6, White Sox 3
At Chicago, Vladimir Guerrero homered and Kelvim Escobar earned a rare win against Chicago.
Robb Quinlan and Jose Molina also connected off struggling Chicago starter Mark Buehrle, dropping the White Sox 10 games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.
Athletics 7, Rangers 4
Mark Ellis drove in four runs with a homer and a bases-loaded double at Oakland, leading the surging Athletics over Texas.
Milton Bradley also homered and drove in two runs for the AL West-leading A's, who won for the eighth time in nine games.
Mariners 5, Devil Rays 4
At Seattle, Raul Ibanez hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning and Seattle's bullpen pitched 4 2-3 scoreless innings to help the Mariners beat Tampa Bay.
Ibanez's 23rd homer -- one short of his career high -- gave Seattle the lead for good and began to ease the bad memories of a weekend sweep by Oakland that left the Mariners 6.5 games back in the AL West.
National League
Yadier Molina homered during a five-run first inning and drove in four runs overall, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Cincinnati Reds 13-1 and the early advantage in their pivotal matchup on Monday.
Chris Duncan, Scott Rolen and Scott Spiezio also homered for the National League Central leaders, who extended their lead over Cincinnati to 4 1/2 games.
Phillies 9, Braves 6
At Atlanta, Ryan Howard hit his 39th homer to surpass 100 RBIs, and Philadelphia scored five runs in the fifth inning during a victory over Atlanta.
Howard's two-run shot in the fourth was Philadelphia's first hit of the night and marked the 16th straight game in which the Phillies have gone deep.
Dodgers 7, Rockies 2
Jeff Kent homered, doubled and drove in three runs in his return from the disabled list, and Los Angeles extended its winning streak to 10 games with a victory over Colorado.
Giants 8, Diamondbacks 4
At Phoenix -- Jason Schmidt hit one of San Francisco's six home runs and pitched the Giants to a victory over Arizona.
Pedro Feliz homered twice and Ray Durham, Moises Alou and Shea Hillenbrand also connected for the last-place Giants, who are 4.5 games behind San Diego.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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